Path of Ash
by CypherTails
Summary: Arche now touched by the abyss must go to the Ashen Shrine within the Profaned Valley to master her new dark powers. Can she overcome the darkness within? Or will she be consumed and go hollow like so many before her. Takes place in the Primordials AU starts from Chapter 16
1. Chapter 1

**The Shrine of Ash, The Profaned Valley**

Arche looked to Maeve's retreating back and felt a sense of loneliness, she was leaving her old life behind to begin something new. She turned back to face the smiling Shrine Maiden and saw a small smile graced her lips.

"You are one of us now child. You now walk the path of ash, come touch the flame and link with the fire." the Shrine Maiden said

Arche gulped as she gazed at the massive purple flame, strangely she felt no heat from the fire. It looked equal parts horrifying and inviting, she extended her hand and reached for the flame. The moment she touched it she felt the voices in her head scream in rage as a surge of power flooded into her being. She felt indescribable pain as the energies flowed into her core, she could feel it. Her magical power was surging by leaps and bounds, whatever the flame was doing it was strengthening her. The voices surged in earnest intent on controlling her to take her hand out of the flame. She felt her control slipping, as her consciousness faded.

Was she going to go hollow right here?

No…

Arche thoughts returned to her family and felt a surge of strength. Then she remembered what Maeve said, hold onto something dear to you. It will give you the power to resist. She tried to picture her sisters faces in her mind and she remembered her promise to them. She could feel Kuurderika's pinky wrapped around her own and she felt another surge of strength.

_NO DO NOT DEFY US!_

"I'm the master here…" Arche shot back in her mind as she warred mightily with the four creatures in her mind

NO!

"Yes…" Arche muttered as she realised she could hold them back

All the hours of meditation she underwent were finally paying off. Initially she wondered why no matter how hard she tried she couldn't wrestle control back from the voices. She did as Maeve said, she emptied her mind every night learning to control her thoughts and emotions. However, when the voices returned she always lacked the strength to push them out. Initially she thought it was a technical problem, that she lacked the skill and mental dexterity to do so. Now she realised it wasn't her skill that was holding her back, it was her just couldn't maintain her concentration long enough because she would tire out too soon. Now with the power of the flame her mind felt sharp, sharper than she had ever been.

_You think your family cares?_

_They sent you to your deaths while they lived in luxury…_

"So wrath then? I don't think so…" Arche muttered as a smile formed on her lips

_Look at everyone else…_

_They live normal lives while you struggle in this bleak cold world…_

"Envy? Try harder…" Arche mocked

_Why do you try so hard…_

_Just rest…_

_No more struggles…_

_No more pain…_

_Just peace…_

"Sloth now I suppose, not good enough." Arche said smugly

_The dark one lied you know…_

_And so did you…_

_You promised you will return…_

_Your promised your sisters…_

_You have no idea where you were sent to don't you..._

At those words she felt a slight chill, where was this place? She came on the blind hope that it would save her. She even promised her sisters she would return, it was such an empty promise.

_Hahaha you think you will ever return?_

_You will die in this cursed shrine…_

_You will fade into nothing…_

_Soon no one will even know you ever existed…_

Arche felt a thrill of fear as she felt uncertainty take hold, she felt her control slip for just a moment. She felt the voices surge in desperate fervor and she lost control of just a moment. She then felt a searing in her hand that was in the fire and she was blasted back across the plaza tumbling head over heels before grinding to a halt. The voices retreated from her mind and she felt a searing pain in her arm. She looked to her arm and saw it was horribly burnt, the fire and seared away all her skin leaving only charred mass of flesh.

Arche looked down at her hand in horror, this wound could kill her. If the wound doesn't get her the rot will, in her panic she felt a power surge from within and a tingling sensation in her arm. She looked on in mute fascination as her arm healed itself before her eyes. The skin appeared over her flesh, her flesh stitched itself together. Soon her arm was as good as new and she moved her arm testing it. It felt perfectly fine now, Arche breathed a sigh of relief and reached up to cover her face. When she touched her face she froze, she felt something cold and smooth was covering her eyes. She touched it and found that it covered her eyes and extended to the sides covering her cheek and eyebrows in a fan like shape.

Arche continued to explore the strange thing on her face when she realised what she was wearing was a bone mask. The same one Maeve was using albeit a lot smaller compared to hers. She saw the Shrine Maiden slowly approach her.

"Most impressive child, thy has a most beautiful mask." the Shrine Maiden said as she knelt down

The Shrine Maiden reached into a hole in reality and pulled out an ornate mirror with a silver handle and faced it towards Arche. Arche gently touched the mask on her face, it was a beautiful mask in great contrast to the ones she has seen so far. Maeve's mask looked like it was cut from a piece of the fires of hell itself. The mask she saw on Horace looked bestial and feral as if he was an apex predator come to claim his prize. Her's however looked beautiful and graceful, it's structure looked like a pair of butterfly wings, with gold and pink accents in weaving patterns. The area around her eyes was blood red which accented the red glow in her eyes.

"Thou has a butterfly mask, a most rare occurrence. Thou must possess a gentle heart. There was once like you long before, she was one most kind." the Shrine Maiden said gently

"Who was she?" Arche asked looking away from the mirror

"She is The Weeping Widow, The Abyss Lord Friede, she is the one who mourns for all the lost souls in this place. She was a child of ash who ascended to the title of Ashen One. Sadly in her love for another she lost her flame and was cast into the Profaned Valley. Within she endured and became the fourth Abyss Lord." the Shrine Maiden said

"She lost her flame? What does that mean?" Arche asked

"It would be better to show you." the Shrine Maiden said as she reached out and touched Arche's face. Arche felt reality dissolve around her as she was hurled into some unknown reality.

Arche landed hard on a solid white floor, she scrambled to her feet and looked around. She found herself once again in the white misty world of her soul. She looked around to see the Shrine Maiden standing there next to her.

"Come child let us see your core." the Shrine Maiden said as she took held out her hand.

The moment Arche touched her hand she felt the landscape change with a jerk and she toppled to the ground again. She got up to see the Shrine Maiden standing there as if nothing happened. Arche really wanted to know how they could keep their balance after that…

Arche looked around and saw her core, it looked different now. Previously it was blue now however it was purple with a dark aura emanating off it. It was also surrounded by a purple flame that burned with a vengeance. It was also much bigger now, now it was the length of a small wagon. The cracks were gone instead the core was mass of whorling purple energies similar to Maeve's just much much smaller. She also noticed that the the four shadowy apparitions were no longer here.

"What happened to it? It was blue before… where did the apparitions go?" Arche muttered to herself

"The Profaned Flame will change your mana core. To survive the abyss thou must become one with it, bend it to thy will. The abyss consumes so you must consume to survive, there is no other way. The Profaned Flame has fused your core with your abyss apparitions. Now you must face them and bend them to thy will or risk losing all that you are." the Shrine Maiden said

"How do I do that?" Arche asked

"A question is posed, the answer comes another day. For now we return you should settle into your new home." the Shrine Maiden said as she waved her hand and found herself back in the shrine.

"Now then child training will begin soon please wait here, speak to the other children. Often children of ash find comfort in each other's companionship." the Shrine Maiden said as she stood up and turned away.

Arche sat on the cold stone floor as she gazed at the Shrine Maiden's retreating back. She numbly sat there and reached up to touch the butterfly mask on her face. It was the same mask as an Abyss Lord? Is that good? Arche thought absentmindedly to herself as she touched the mask on her face. Arche closed her eyes and peered within using her mind's eye and found the voices absent… she only felt lingering anger and malice deep within her. This mask was odd, she couldn't even feel it on her face. It was like it was a part of her, like how you wouldn't feel your hair or your skin. She tried to take it off but found it was stuck to her face and she could feel a deep sore like sensation when she tugged on the mask as if the mask was now part of her body.

"You can't take it off like that." a voice said

Arche turned to see a teenage girl with brown hair and eyes standing to her right. She was wearing old tattered robes that looked a few sizes too large.

"I am Anri." the girl said

"Arche." Arche replied as she watched Anri take a seat next to her.

"You have a very beautiful mask." Anri said her voice sounded serene as if she was not completely here. She sounded like her mind was in the clouds never truly at earth.

"Thank you… but I can't seem to take it off." Arche said as she tugged on it

"Look within and find the source of your power… and cut that power" the girl said airily

"Erm ok… I'll try…" Arche said as she closed her eyes and tried to find the source of her power. She concentrated and tried to search within herself and found nothing…

"Anri stop confusing her." Arche heard another voice from behind her.

She turned to see a boy in his late teens with hair white as snow standing there. He had bright cerulean eyes and a pale complexion. He also wore tattered robes and was rather tall. He walked over and sat down on Arche's other side. He looked at her and stuck out his hand, Arche reached out and shook it.

"I'm Nicodemus Sullivan, most just call me Nico." the boy said

"I'm a Arche Eeb Rile Furt, you can call me Arche, a pleasure to meet you Nico." Arche said

"Wow you have a fancy name, you some noble or something?" Nico asked

"Well I was." Arche replied uncomfortably

"Well we all used to be something before we ended up here." Nico said wistfully

"Yes I suppose, how long have you two been here?" Arche asked

"I've been here for about 2 months, Anri never gives me a straight answer when I ask her but she's been here a long time. Anri and Horace are the oldest here, they've been here for thousands of years at least." Nico said as he leaned back and put his hands behind his head.

"You know the Herald." Anri suddenly stated

"Yes I do, she… helped me get here." Arche replied finding it extremely difficult to speak to this strange girl.

"Well that's quite something, Anri was here when the Herald first came here to train." Nico said

"Maeve came here to train?" Arche asked

"Who?" Nico asked

"Maeve that's her name, the Herald." Arche said

"Oh so she has a name… she never told us anything when she was here…" Anri said as she absentmindedly looked around the room

"How long was she here for?" Arche asked

"I don't know…" Anri replied as she began playing with the fringe of her hair

"Don't worry about it, you get used to it. Anri's not very good with time... or memory for that matter. From what I heard is that the Herald was around for about a month. She was the fastest ever to master the abyss and ascend to the title of Ashen One, or so the legend goes." Nico said

"What do you mean by ascend?" Arche asked

"You ascend when you master the abyss within you, it takes awhile for most. Some get hard stuck like Anri and Horace, too strong to fade but for some reason they can't completely master their inner apparitions thus they are stuck here. Horace thinks he just needs more power, Anri is well just being Anri I suppose. The thing is there is a test you have to take in order to leave. We don't know what the test is and only the Shrine Maiden may allow us to take it. She will tell us when we qualify apparently." Nico said

"How long does it usually take?" Arche asked

"It varies from person to person, some have a natural talent for it and some are just plain bad so they take awhile. There are those that can't control their inner hollows or they start losing their grip after being here for too long and they start going hollow. We all will have this thing called a flame inside of us, the fire lets us control the hollows. However, the fire needs fuel to burn, we get the fuel by devouring the hollows outside. Problem is hollows fight back, so you need to learn how to fight like a hollow if you want to survive." Nice said

"So we have to kill hollows?" Arche asked liking this place less and less as she listened

"Yea… the sad part is most of the hollows out there used to be the children here. Some can't bear it and are devoured by the hollows outside when they freeze up in combat." Nico said with a sigh

"What happens when a hollow gets you?" Arche asked

"It eats your soul and you become a hollow yourself." Nico said

"A hollow must feed on living souls and we must feed on hollows or go hollow ourselves. A never ending cycle of hatred and destruction." Anri said

"How many hollows have you killed?" Arche asked

"I've devoured one, Anri here… doesn't remember." Nico said

"Your mask is very rare." Anri said absentmindedly

"Is it? What determines what our masks look like?" Arche said trying to adjust to the sudden change in subject

"Your soul, our masks are a reflection of our souls. The deepest darkest parts of our personality, the masks show the worst parts of us." Anri said as mask formed on her face. She turned to face Arche.

Arche looked to see her bulging spherical eyes with hexagon patterns, from her forehead extended two curved antennae, her mouth had a circular hole and two pincers on each side. The mask was white except for the mouth which had a crimson pattern that made it look like it was dripping blood. It was a mask that looked like the head of a common house fly.

"What does your mask mean?" Arche asked as she gazed at the odd mask

"It means I am a parasite, a carrion creature, I survive by eating the scraps from other tables." Anri said

Arche gazed dumbfounded at Anri, it was quite a self loathing thing to say to call yourself a parasite.

"It's not just her, we all have masks that show the worst side of us." Nico said softly as he conjured his mask.

Arche turned to see smiling mouth with upturned eyes giving the appearance of a radiant jovial smile. However there were black tear streaks running down the face of his mask and as Arche continued to look on she found herself unable to determine whether the mask was smiling or weeping.

"My mask is a Harlequin mask, it means I leech off the happiness of others. I make people happy just to take it for myself. Mine is considered unformed, a formed mask looks like yours and Anri's it has a specific shape to it. An unformed mask is like mine just plain face with markings and holes. Most of the children here have unformed masks, it means we are much weaker than you." Nico said as he waved his hand over his face and the mask crumbled away.

"Then what does mine mean?" Arche asked

"You have one of the better ones, one of the best actually. The best are the butterfly, the hawk, the plague doctor, the owl and the wolf. The worst are the housefly, the ape, the vulture, the serpent and the demon." Nico replied

"The butterflies are believed to guide souls to the afterlife, it implies a strong magical aptitude but a lack of will to use it. It means you are very capable of solving problems but you choose to ignore them and run away. Your sin is sloth and self deception, you have the power but lack the will to wield it." Anri said

"I… that's not true…" Arche said defensively

"These are just stereotypes Arche, everyone is different but as far as your mask is concerned it's pretty good. Butterfly masks are powerful, you will be tearing hollows to pieces with your spells before long." Nico said a tinge on envy in his voice

"Well I am a magic caster of the fourth tier…" Arche said slowly

"Fourth tier? How old are you?" Nico asked eyes wide

"I'm 15." Arche replied

"Wow that's really young, are most people good mages where you come from?" Nico asked

"No, it's just me. I studied at a magic academy most of my peers are 10 years my senior." Arche replied with a hint of pride

"Wow I guess the stereotypes are true, that's the butterfly mask for you I suppose." Nico said

"Thanks I guess, but I still don't know how to get this mask off." Arche said

"You said your're a caster right? You just need to find the source of power and learn to control it. How I did it was I tried to find the power in my mask and I worked backwards. Once you find your flame with your mind's eye you will be able to start to manipulate your powers." Nico said as he raised his finger and explained in a scholarly like voice.

"Ok… let me give it a try." Arche said as she crossed her legs and sat up straight. Her let her arms rest together on her lap fingers slightly interlocked. This was the pose that she used when she meditated.

Arche started the breathing exercise and cleared her mind. She shunned away all emotions and distractions focusing inwards. First she tried to sense her mana pool, it was there but it felt different. It felt bigger… much bigger it also felt hot… it must be the flame...

Arche tried to find the source of heat but found nothing, she looked aimlessly and found no source. She then tried to focus on her face hoping she would sense something from the mask, again she found nothing. Perhaps a more direct approach… Arche reached up and touched her mask. She focused on the strange sensation of touch that came from her mask, then she felt it a thrum of power. It felt strange, almost alien, it was like nothing she had ever experienced. Following Nico's advice she tried to trace the power back and found it led back to her mana pool. Perhaps the fire is within the mana pool… Arche took another deep breath and heightened her concentration prepared herself for the plunge…

Nico looked on at Arche as a purple aura started to form around Arche, wisps of darkness started to emanate from her form as air started to feel heavy. This was way too fast, most took weeks to find their inner flame let alone manifest their aura. She was doing in minutes what some would take months to accomplish.

"How is she doing that so quickly? It took me two weeks to even find my flame, I slept with that stupid mask for a month." Nico said incredulously

"Butterflies are masters of technical skill, they lack maximum power potential but they make up for it with unrivalled mastery of their abilities." a voice said

Nico turned to see a robed man standing in front of them. His hood was down revealing his grey hair and kind twinkling eyes. His eyes however was milky and white, having been blinded by some unknown event.

"Hello Father Gabriel." Anri said

"Greetings Anri, Nico do not fret over her. Butterflies are both blessed and cursed beings. They burn bright but only briefly, a flame that burns too hot runs out of fuel before long. I expect her to be out of here in a few months but whether she can control her growing power is up to her. Butterflies often grow too confident in their abilities and that is their ultimate downfall. They reach for the sun and end up burnt to a crisp.' Father Gabriel said

"Father Gabriel is it time for class?" Anri asked

"Soon child, I wish to see how she does first, the class can wait." Father Gabriel said calmly as the other children started to gather as they watched Arche.

Arche found herself in a cold dark world, she could see a purple light in the distance. With nothing else in sight Arche began to walk towards it. Soon she saw a large purple fire burning in the sky and the temperature in the surroundings started to feel just a bit warmer. Then she saw it above her family's summer home was a huge purple fire. She saw a silhouette appear in the window before vanishing, strangely the shadowy apparitions were nowhere to be found.

Arche walked to the door and opened it and to her surprise she saw the apparitions sitting sullenly around her living room. Her family was nowhere to be found only the apparitions, where here.

"What do you want girl." her dark mother said

"Came to visit, not going to attack me?" Arche asked eyebrows raised

"If we destroy you this house disappears and we get burnt to a crisp by the profaned flame." evil Kuurderika grumbled

"Ah I see." Arche said as she stepped into her home and looked around. Everything looked the same except that her family was gone leaving these shadowy apparitions.

"Where is my family?" Arche asked coldly

"Who?" her father asked

"The people who were here first." Arche said icily

"There was no one here when we arrived." her father replied

"You lie! Where are they? Did you devour them?" Arche hissed

"There was no one here brat! Once you touched that damned flame we were brought to this accursed house" her father roared

Arche furrowed her brows as she looked at the dark versions of her family sulking around her living room. They seemed to be telling the truth but what did this mean? Her core has changed significantly, the serene landscape of her summer home was all gone except for this house. Now only these shadows remained where her family was…

Was all of this just in her mind? Logically this place was a construct of her own mind or personality. That would mean… in here she should be able to manipulate reality…

Arche walked towards one of the glass windows and placed her hand on the window and concentrated. She thought about the window cracking, she pictured it in her mind and imagined it in her mind's eye. Nothing…

Perhaps it's more primal nothing logical… perhaps she needs to believe it not just want it. Maeve had said this place was the deepest darkest parts of her soul. So she tried to make herself believe the window would crack, she tried with all her might to believe. Yet… nothing once again…

Arche was starting to get frustrated this was her own mind, her own soul. Why was she so powerless in here? It was like she was a spectator to her own mind, it was absurdly insulting to her. Arche was a mage, a master of her own power, of her own mind and of her own fate. As the anger boiled she noticed the window cracked…

"Oi what the hell are you doing?" her father shouted.

Arche ignoring him continued to focus on the window.

Emotions… that was it… you couldn't reason yourself into loving someone, you can't persuade yourself to believe anything. Everything you are is because of your emotions, you love your family no matter what, there is no rhyme or reason to it…

Then would other emotions work? She tried to picture her sisters and let the warmth she felt when she held them close flood her mind. She tried to use that feeling to shatter the window but instead found the cracking stitching itself together...

Different emotions have different effects? Yes it makes sense love heals it does not destroy, envy, wrath, pride those poisoned the soul and caused destruction. She thought about how those four behind her had changed her life so drastically for the worse. She wished them dead…

Then the window was blown outwards as a gush of heat flooded into the room and the dark versions of her family screamed in agony as they buckled to their knees. Arche turned to gaze upon their writhing forms and found a dark sense of satisfaction as she watched them suffer on her living room floor.

"Please stop…" Kuurderika weeped

"Stop we beg of you…" her mother wailed

Arche turned back to the window, she thought back to her sisters and watched as the window reassembled itself. She turned back to the four vile creatures on the floor as they shakily stood back up.

"I have the power here, you will serve me." Arche said coldly

"You are weak girl you think you can command us?" her mother hissed

"You will obey or I will be doing some renovating." Arche said

The four apparitions screamed in rage and pounced on her, as she fell back onto the floor she let her rage surge forth again and the entire front wall of her house was blasted open flooding the house in a searing heat. The apparitions screamed and staggered back as they fell to their knees. Arche calmly rose and dusted herself off, she took her time readjusting her clothes and smoothing out her hair as she listened to them scream.

After she decided it was enough she reassembled the wall and and coldly looked on as the apparitions trembled on the floor.

"On your knees where you belong." Arche said coldly as they tried to rise

She watched as the four froze and looked up at her hatefully. Arche felt her eye twitch in annoyance and she heard the window behind her crack. The apparitions immediately fell to their knees in fear.

"Who do you serve?" Arche asked

"We serve you mistress… for now…" they said hatefully

"If I ever catch wind of any betrayal I'll come back here and blow the roof off." Arche said coldly

"Yes mistress." they said reluctantly

Nico watched as the pressure disappeared from around Arche. Then he saw her open her eyes and a fierce red glow emanated from her eyes. He watched as Arche slowly stood back up and uncaring of the crowd standing around her.

Arche closed her eyes as she stood up and felt the power within her. It was a fiery and wrathful power, filled with malice and vengeance. Not at all like her normal magic which felt cool and calming. Now that she had the cooperation of the squatters in her soul she found she could instinctively control the powers she possessed.

She raised her hands and channeled power into them, she looked down to see a black fire ball in each hand. She brought them together and merged the fires together, she channeled more power into her hands and shot the fire in a stream towards the ceiling.

So powerful… control comes so easily now… it was like instinct, it came as naturally as breathing…

Arche banished her mask and felt the bone crumble down her face. She looked to the crowd around her and saw the old man standing there gazing at her with a smile.

"Very impressive child, truly butterflies are gifted. Now come class is starting." the man said as he turned and started walking towards one of entrances into the hall.

Arche watched as the other children followed after him, she turned to Nico and Anri who were silently staring at her.

"Well I suppose not everyone is created equal." Nico said with a shrug as he grabbed Arche's hand and started leading her along.

"You are very good at this." Anri said as she walked beside her

"Yeah, no kidding, I can barely cast any spells and you manage to cast one so big right as you get here." Nico said as he walked in front of them still pulling Arche along.

Soon the trio arrived in what appeared to be a sparring arena, Arche saw to her left at the door was sitting what looked to her was the laziest skeleton in existence. She pulled her hand free from Nico and stopped to look at the strange skeleton. It was sleeping reclined in the chair with it's skeletal legs kicked up on the table in front of him. It wore this strange puffy outer cloak with a white under shirt and black shorts. It had strange furry slippers on its feet and it's build was squat. It looked like a dwarf turned skelton.

Then she saw a strange white eyes appear in the eyeholes of his skull. It looked to her before stretching and sitting back up.

"Heya kiddo, never seen you here before. You new?" the skeleton asked

"Yes I just arrived today." Arche said as she continued to observe the strange skeleton

"Arche come on, everyone's waiting. Stop wasting your time with lazy bones over there." Nico said as he grabbed her hand again and began leading here away.

"See ya kiddo, try not to have a bad time." the skeleton said as his put his arms on the table and laid his head on them before falling back asleep.

Arche continued to look back at the strange skeleton as she was led away, something felt off about the skeleton…

Arche sat down among the other children as the old man stood before them and calmly waited. The silence dragged on as the children silently waited for the Master to speak. The master walked up to Arche and gazed down at her with his milky unseeing eyes.

"Come forward child, introduce yourself." the master said

Arche rose to her feet walked up to the master to face the rest of the children. She looked to the faces of the children, some were curious, some were fearful, others were filled with hatred and a few wore blank expressions as if they were already broken by the trials of this place. She felt a hungry gaze on her, she turned to see the boy called Horace gazing at her with bestial hunger. Arche locked her gaze on the boy for a moment before looking away and facing the class.

"My name is Arche Eeb Rile Furt, I look forward to getting to know all of you." Arche said calmly

"A pleasure to meet you Arche, I am Father Gabriel now then let's find out a bit more about you." Father Gabriel said

"What would like to know?" Arche asked cautiously

"Here in the Ashen Shrine we speak with our actions not words, come who wishes to meet the newest to addition to our shrine." Father Gabriel said

"I will." Horace said as he raised his hand, a wicked grin on his face

"Lay off Horace, she just got here!" Nico shouted angrily

"Shut it sheep, the wolves are talking now." Horace said as he walked in front of Arche and gave Nico a very rude hand gesture.

Arche looked to Horace as his mask appeared, it was a simple mask with black markings running down it's length in strange black lines. On his right chest and arm was a layer of bone forming armor. Arche conjured her mask and immediately heard a voice in her head.

_Careful girl, this one lacks talent but has devoured many hollows…_

"Pretty mask you have there, I heard a lot about the primal five, I have always wanted a taste…" Horace said as he licked his lips

"Primal five?" Arche asked

"Yes, the five strongest masks, the butterfly, the hawk, the plague doctor, the owl and the wolf. If I devour you I will become stronger than ever before." Horace said with a mad glint in his eyes

_If one of Ash devours another they become one stronger than either…_

_Such is the way of the abyss…_

_Kill or be killed…_

_Devour or be devoured..._

"You want my essence?" Arche asked eyes narrowed

"Naturally." Horace said as he took a stance

"If you want it, come and take it." Arche said as she channeled spells in both hands

Horace let out a primal roar as he charged straight at Arche, he ran on all fours like some beast. Arche calmly looked on and waited for him to get too close, once he was in a close enough range she released the spell in her right hand. [Lightning] she intoned as the bolt of black lightning shot out at Horace. Arche wondered which way would he dodge, he chose to jump up into the air. The worse choice available…

Horace leapt towards her, he saw no fear in her eyes, then he saw the other hand point at him. [Fireball] she intoned as ball of black fire shot towards him, with him being in the air he had no way to correct his path and he jumped right into spell.

Arche watched as he took a [Fireball] to the face and was blasted back rolling across the sparring grounds burning in black fire. So predictable… it was like fighting some feral beast. It looks like her time as an adventurer was paying off. Twin casting was a skill she was uniquely talented at, it gave her a slew of tactical options at the cost of spell power.

Horace rose coughing out soot as the fire died out, this girl was an experienced fighter. Typical of the Herald to bring one such as her here. No matter, he had devoured all of the ones she sent here so far, this one would be no different…

Arche readied more spells [Spell seal: Teleportation] [Spell seal: Magic Mine]. She watched as Horace started to run in a zig zag pattern to try and make himself harder to hit. A typical strategy, most beasts started doing this after getting hit by her spells. So far he was playing to the script quite nicely. [Spell seal] was a type of magic augmentation that allowed one to hold a spell to be released at the perfect time. The catch was that the longer the spell was held the more mana it drained when casted. [Magic Arrow] she intoned as she released a group of weak magic arrows form her right hand at him, predictably he dodged and dashed the moment he cleared the hail of arrows. [Release seal] Arche intoned as she teleported behind him as a [Magic Mine] appeared under her.

Seeing the arcane circles appearing where the girl was Horace ground to a halt and whirled around to see her standing a few metres behind him. Arche was glad she took the time to study the spell [Teleportation] even though she lacked the power to cast such a spell. Now with this dark power enhancing her abilities she could cast this one tier 5 spell, in her mind she had already planned how to use this most useful mobility spell.

Horace laughed to himself, did this stupid girl think that such a simple trick work on him. For one such as her to defeat him was a hundred years too early. [Shockwave] she intoned as Horace felt a wave of force slam in him and he was blasted back right into the [Magic Mine] behind him.

Arche watched as he was consumed in an explosion, [Douse] she intoned as a stream of high powered water blasted him back. Now soaked and stunned from the explosion Arche started her closing act. [Lightning] she intoned as the dark bolt of electricity stuck him, electricity combined with water causes a [Paralysis] status effect that stops all movement for a period of time. [Acid Arrow] Arche intoned as a green arrow shot out and struck him. The acid started to dissolve away his defenses, now that he was crowd controlled and debuffed she could use her more hard hitting spells. [Twin cast: Burn Lance] as a pair of flaming lances shot out and struck Horace. The fire ignited the acid coating him creating a [Miasma] that blinds and reduces defensive stats. [Maximise Magic: Shock Lance] a large lance made of dark lightning struck Horace refreshing the paralysis effect. [Oil Bomb] she intoned as ball of black liquid flew and splashed against his face, coating him in a layer of oil. Now for the coup de grace, [Maximise magic: Grand Fireball] Arche intoned as she launched a massive black fireball at Horace, the fireball exploded with a loud crack as air was sucked towards the fire to help fuel the flames. When a target is [Oiled] and hit with a fire spell it causes an [Ignition] effect that causes a damage over time burn effect. On its own it's not very powerful, however when [Ignition] is combined with [Miasma] it turns into a new effect called [Conflagration]. The fire ignites the [Miasma] causing a secondary explosion that deals a large amount of damage and causes a slew of secondary effects, such as [Blind], [Silence], [Deafen] and [Stun].

Arche stood gazing intently at the cloud of smoke and waited to see if he would be able to recover from her combo attack. Arche was feeling really drained, that was her most powerful combo of spells. If he wasn't down for the count she wouldn't be able to cast that many more spells. As the smoke cleared she saw him lying face up on the ground, his bone mask gone along with his armor. She watched him unsteadily lift his chest up before collapsing back down.

"I yield… please no more…" Horace said

Arche walked over and looked down over him. He was uninjured mostly, which was not surprising considering she knew the abyss helped to heal the bodies of the host when injured.

"You fought well… mind helping me up my legs aren't working at the moment..." Horace said with a smile as he weakly raised his left hand.

Arche although a bit suspicious decided to approach and offered her hand. Horace weakly took it, suddenly however the grip turned into a vice and bone covered hand shot out and grabbed her throat. Arche was thrown onto her back and she gazed at the smiling face of Horace as his mask reformed on his face.

"Rule number one of the profaned valley Arche, no remorse and no mercy." Horace said as he grabbed Arche's throat with both hands and began to strangle her.

Arche tried to channel a spell in her hand but Horace sensing this lifted her up and slammed her on the ground hard, knocking the wind out of her. Her spell fizzled out in her hand as she struggled to catch her breathe, soon she started to feel her mind start to cloud as the lack of oxygen started to kick in.

_Need some help girl?_

Arche denied the voice with whatever will power she had left, the last thing she wanted was to give power back to the hollows that lay within her soul. She felt the world going black as the hands around her throat continued to tighten.

"Horace that's enough!" Nico shouted

"Quiet sheep, this bitch need to pay for all that hurt she did." Horace raged as he squeezed harder and Arche's head started to loll to the side.

"Father Gabriel!" Nico shouted as he rose to his feet.

"Take a seat Nicodemus, I don't think she's quite done yet." Father Gabriel said with a smile

Nico turned and looked to Arche, as the last dredges of resistance fled her body and her form went limp. Then something changed the air started to get heavy as wisps of darkness started emanating off Arche's form. Horace paused as he gazed at the sudden change of the girl in front of him. Then he saw her open her eyes and a strong red glow started to emanate from her pupils. A wide wicked smile appeared on her face as she locked eyes with him, the wisps of darkness were starting to flood the area around her obscuring his vision.

Then he felt a sharp pain in his chest, he looked down to see a black blade embedded in his chest. He released his hands from her throat and clutched at the wound screaming in agony.

"You feel that… mmhhhh such delicious suffering." Arche said with a wide smile

Nico looked on stunned as the tendrils of darkness formed long tentacles that combined into a black blade. More tentacles emerged and lifted Arche up, the blade raised up at hoisted Horace up by his wound.

"You pathetic little insect, look at your pitiful mask. No form just markings, how much table scraps have you eaten to grow so much armor I wonder." Arche said with a laugh as the blade raised him even higher eliciting a scream from Horace.

"Who are you…" Horace gasped out as he grasped at the blade in his chest trying to shift some of his weight onto his arms.

"We are Arche, we are what she fears, what she hates, you should have just stayed down. However, I thank you, it's not often we get to take the reins like this." Arche said as she laughed and flung Horace to the side.

Horace rolled along the stone floor clutching his chest as blood pooled onto the floor. His chest was healing but slowly, it would take awhile for him to heal that wound.

"Such weak regeneration, you are going to go down just like that? The true denizens of the profaned valley will eat you alive you little pup." Arche said with a laugh as she brandished the tentacles forming the blade and severed her left arm at the elbow.

Horace watched in shock as her arm dropped on to the floor, he looked to see a new arm regenerate from the bleeding stump in a manner of seconds.

"Good as new…" Arche said as she tested her new arm by clenching and unclenching her fist.

"Wait…" Horace pleaded as Arche approached, the fear in his eyes now very real.

Horace tried to crawl back as he clutched at his chest, he got a metre away before he felt tentacles wrap around his ankles. He shouted as he was dragged back and hung upside down in front of Arche. He looked around and saw the tentacles with their gaping maws filled with serrated teeth surrounding him. The tentacles hissed and snapped at him as they hovered around him.

"We like that look in your eyes little lamb, the Herald you despise so much dislikes torture… We on the other hand have no such compunctions… tell me what would you like to lose first your tongue or your eyes…" Arche said with a maniacal laugh as the blade flashed and slashed Horace across the chest splattering blood across the stone floor.

"Please…" Horace gasped as his body now devoid of strength hung limpy from the tentacles

"I like that look of fear in you eyes… so your tongue it is then..." Arche said as the tentacles pried his mouth open and pulled out his tongue. The black blade changed form into a thin serrated blade. As the blade inched towards, Horace's tongue, the blade suddenly stopped and the tentacles dissolved into to wisps of darkness.

"Ah Mistress is home… lucky little lamb aren't you…" Arche said softly as she fell back to the ground and Horace collapsed into a heap on the stone floor.

Arche snapped back to her senses and looked to the brutalised Horace. She looked on stunned at his deep and grevious wounds. She turned to look at the gathered children who were all looking at her in abject terror. Nico was looking at her with his brows furrowed as he silently stood there watching her.

"Very impressive child, take a seat." Father Gabriel said with a wide smile on his face.

Arche gingerly walked back among the group of children and sat down next to Nico. The other children got up and ran off to the sides intent on keeping as far away from her as possible.

"You didn't tell me you have a sentient hollow." Nico whispered

"Huh what does that even mean?" Arche asked shakily

"Something possessed you just now, it spoke… most hollows are just bestial creatures, they can't talk." Nico said

"Mine started this way, I thought everyone was like this." Arche replied

"No it's not… most of us have a silent primal hollow inside of us." Nico said

Arche didn't say anything to that, she looked back to Father Gabriel and his smiling face. At first he seemed like a kind old grandpa, now he seemed like some demented psychopath as he asked another pair of children to drag Horace to the side and left him there on the cold stone floor to recover by himself.

_Ok now who wants to go next…_

**Author's Notes:**

**So here is the first chapter of this short story following Arche's new life in the Shrine of Ash. This story will reconnect with the main story at some point in the future, it won't be too long about 5 - 10 chapters in total. **

**So leave a review if you liked it, any criticism is welcome. Also if you guys have any suggestions I would be happy to read it so leave it in a review or pm. **

**See you guys in the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

Arche sat at the table and tried her best not to gag as she put another spoon of this black weed into her mouth. In the Profaned Valley the only this weed known as the Ebon Leaf grew, so everyone here basically just ended up eating that. It was extremely nutritious apparently but the taste left much to be desired. If Arche had to describe it was like eating month old rotten cabbages soaked in curdled and stinking milk. She would skin someone alive to get her hands on a normal slice of bread. On the first day she barely ate any of it, she couldn't keep it down at all. Now having been here awhile in she could actually finish her plate with much effort on her part.

"Hey Arche, what weapon do you think you will get?" Nico asked

"I don't know, maybe a staff?" Arche said after another painful swallow

"I hope mine is a sword, just like the ones knights use." Nico said

"You don't choose the weapon, the weapon chooses you." Anri said

"Yes I know but surely our preferences do matter." Nico replied

"You should use the weapon that suits you the most." Arche said

"Come on guys the Shrine Maiden finally decides for us to get our weapons, can't you two be abit more excited?" Nico said exasperated

"How did you kill a hollow anyway without a weapon?" Arche asked

"Oh we get to borrow one if we don't have a weapon yet." Nico said

"Our weapons are linked to us, they are created when we touch Ebony Plate." Anri said

"What's your weapon like Anri?" Arche asked as she pushed away the now empty plate

"Mine? Oh it's this thing here." Anri said as a long two handed curved sword appeared in her hand in a cloud of darkness.

The sword had a sharp curved blade that ended in a long thin tip. The blade was single edged except for the upper portion which was double edged. Arche looked on a knew that that reverse edge would be great of chopping off heads. Flesh and bone will not hold up well against the reverse edge of that curved blade. The blade had no hilt and there were strange warped markings on the flat of the blade giving it an alien appearance.

"What class if weapon is that." Nico said as he prodded the blade with his finger

"I don't remember…" Anri said airily

"Of course you don't…" Nico said with a sigh

"What's a weapon class?" Arche asked

"There's six weapon classes, grey, white, green, blue, purple and yellow. Yellow is the strongest with grey being the weakest. Your weapon will match the potential of your hollow." Nico explained

"I see, so we don't get to choose?" Arche asked

"No it is formed from you, you have no say in the matter as far as I am aware." Anri said

"I see…" Arche replied as she gazed at the blade Anri held. She activated her talent and gazed at the blade.

Arche felt her eyes widen as she gazed at the mana signature from the blade. In her world this would be considered a legendary blade, she feels this blade could give Gazef's legendary blade a run for its money. She wondered what weapon would she get…

**The Black Forge**

Arche sat among the other children as they watched the Shrine Maiden approach this strange dark metal plate. The plate was odd, the surface seemed to move like a liquid and yet it had this metallic shine to it. It was rather small about the length of a spear and as wide as a shield, to was on its side with flat facing the children.

"Here you will receive your weapon, the Ebon Plate will peer deep within you and manifest the weapon that you are fated to wield." the Shrine Maiden

Arche looked around her there were five other children here including Nico, the other four were quite young being still in their early teens. Then there was that strangely dressed skeleton who was slumped against the wall fast asleep. For some reason he was always around when the children were gathered for anything. Even during meals he would be passed out in some corner of the hall. Although Arche kept getting the feeling he wasn't asleep, he was watching them at all times.

"Come forward child." the Shrine Maiden said as she gestured to one of the boys sitting amongst them.

He approached the plate and placed his hand on the plate. The liquid surface morphed and started to boil, black bubbles broiled and popped as the once gently shimmering service was now as turbulent as a rushing river. Then from the liquid emerged a thin black rapier, with a silver hand guard. It was an extremely beautiful weapon, it was something a noble would carry on their person. Arche activated her talent and looked at the rapier… it was weak. It was a good weapon but nothing compared to what Anri had. She wouldn't be surprised if Anri's greatsword snapped that rapier like a twig.

"A white, well done child, it will serve thee well in the trials to come." the Shrine Maiden said with a gentle smile

So that was a white, it wasn't bad. Back home that blade would be good enough to serve as a family heirloom. There was no smith and enchanter in the empire that would be able to make something like that. Here, however the scales were completely different, the power here was on a completely different level. Arche knew if all the children here were cut loose into her world they would slaughter everything with very little resistance. Perhaps the likes of Gazef and her Master could put up a good fight against the average child here. They had better skills and spells, however, they were not of ash. The children of ash are far superior physically, with better stamina and regeneration. Fatal wounds healed on their own without much issue, although there was a limit to it. The more wounds a child of ash healed the slower the regeneration becomes, the healing factor would tire over time so it wasn't an indefinite ability.

Arche knew she had a very strong healing abilities, she had heard from Nico how she regenerated her arm in seconds. Although, she noticed normally her regeneration was not that powerful, she lost a hand in a fight with Anri and it took about five minutes for the hand to reform. When the hollow took over she was much stronger, she would step into a completely different realm of power. Ever since that first day, not a single child has dared to knock her unconscious for fear of her hollow taking control and brutalising them.

So far she fought Horace four more times and lost all four bouts. He had simply too much stamina and his body was extremely resilient to damage. Most of her spells could only lightly injure him, if he managed to absorb the hit with his armor it did almost nothing. He had rather poor regeneration but he made up for it with resilience and tenacity. Apparently her first day was the first time he had been defeated in a long time.

Arche watched as the other children approached the plate and received their weapons, the weapons were mostly whites and greens nothing exceptional. Finally she watched as Nico approached the Ebon Plate, from the plate emerged a one handed saber. It had a thick blade with strong curve on the blade, the hilt was gold with patterns that denote the sea. It's handle was protected by an arm guard that looked like golden waves cresting over the handle.

"Very good child, a blue. The Echo Saber a most formidable weapon." the Shrine Maiden said with a smile

Arche watched as Nico happily took the saber and sat back down. She looked on as he gently caressed the blade a goofy smile on his face. Arche couldn't help but let out a small giggle as she watched him.

"Now then child you are the last one. I look forward to what weapon you will call forth." the Shrine Maiden said

Arche stood up and approached the Ebon Plate, she could feel the eyes of everyone on her. What kind of weapon would she receive she wondered. She touched the plate and watched as the surface boiled and bubbled. From the plate emerged a staff made of dark silver, it had ornate engravings across the handle. At both ends of the staff was a bright silver metal T shaped end. The T was about 10 centimetres wide, Arche picked up the staff and looked at the top of the T and saw that it was hollow with a hole at the top of the T.

"Ah the Life Hunter Scepter, a yellow. Thy has a weapon most rare. Thy foes shall find their desires be requited not." the Shrine Maiden said with a wide beaming smile

"Erm thanks I suppose." Arche said as she clutched the scepter in her arms. It was rather long if left standing it would reach up to her chin, Arche felt it was more of a staff than a scepter but it was just a name anyway.

Arche joined the other children as they were led out of the room, as she walked she noticed that the skeleton was now awake and was staring intently at her. Even now that skeleton still gave her the creeps.

"I can't believe you got a Life Hunter." Nico said as they walked back towards the common plaza

"What's so special about this staff?" Arche asked she knew yellows were powerful but she assumed the staff's name was just that. A name.

"It's the same series as the one used by Lady Friede. She uses a Life Hunter." Nico said fervently

"Wait hang on, what do you mean by series." Arche asked

"Weapons that are blue and above have specific subcategories. The most famous are those in yellow class, there are Life Hunter, Dark Moon, Wolf Knight and Crucifix. I'm not sure which abyss lord has what weapon, I only know Lady Friede has a Life Hunter and Lord Farron has a Wolf Knight." Nico explained

"I see…" Arche said as she looked down at the staff she clutched in her hand.

Arche sat down with Nico and Anri as soon as they got back. Nico was excitedly swinging his sword, Arche noticed it had a shadowy after image as he swung the blade. Arche looked back at the staff, this was a legendary weapon? She had activated her talent when she first gazed upon the weapon and was surprised to see no mana signature whatsoever. She looked again and still saw nothing, there had to be a trick to this…

"Nice Scepter you got there." A familiar voice said from behind her, Arche turned to see Maeve standing there with a smirk on her face.

"Maeve! When did you arrive." Arche said as she pulled the small girl into a hug.

"Erm I just arrived…" Maeve said as she hastily disentangled herself from Arche's embrace.

"Right sorry, it's just that it feels like it's been so long since I came here." Arche said as she felt a well of emotions build up inside of her.

"It's been two weeks, I know how time can feel fuzzy here with no day night cycle to speak of." Maeve said

"How's my sisters." Arche asked fervently

"They are doing fine, they seem to be enjoying their stay. Although they say they miss you. Oh yes they also asked me to give you this." Maeve said as she reached into her coat and took out a letter.

Arche took the letter and gazed at the clean white surface, it was impossible to see anything clean in this place. Her bed was made of mouldy hay, her food tasted like bad milk and the robe given to her smelled like a few generations of moths had lived and died in it. Arche opened the letter with trembling hands and unfurled the crisp white paper. She saw the words written in her sisters childlike handwriting.

_Dearest Sister,_

_I hope you are ok, Maeve said she would give this to you when she next saw you. Me and Ureirika asked to go see you but Maeve said no. Don't tell her but she's a poopy head, she's only a few years older and she acts like she's the boss. Don't worry me and Ureirika have been sneaking around the fancy palace we are now in. I overheard Maeve saying to mum that you were in a secret place, so me Ureika have been looking for a secret tunnel or something. We got caught once by this dog maid lady, she was nice and told us not to wander off. But that won't stop us, we will find that tunnel. _

_Anyway, me and Ureirika wanted to tell you that we love you and we miss you. I hope you come back soon or maybe we will find you first! _

_With lots of kisses and hugs._

_Kuurderika and Ureirika_

_PS. I haven't washed my pinky since we made that promise, I'm afraid it'll wash the promise off._

Arche felt her eyes grow hot as she read the letter, she saw drops of tears drop onto the letter. Arche held the letter close to her heart as she let the tears flow, she felt her knees grow weak as fell to her knees and she heard her staff clatter to the floor. When finally the tears stopped she looked up to see Maeve holding a handkerchief. Arche accepted it gratefully, she wiped her face before grabbing her staff and standing back up.

"May I send a letter back?" Arche asked

"No, I can only carry a verbal message." Maeve replied

"I see, help me thank my sisters for the letter and tell them… tell them I'll be home soon." Arche said

"I will." Maeve said with a nod, Arche saw Maeve's eyes shift to Nico and Anri who were behind her.

"Hello Anri, it's been awhile." Maeve said calmly

"Hello Lady Herald." Anri said

"Lady Herald." Nico said with a nervous bow

"You are?" Maeve asked

"I am Nicodemus Sullivan Lady Herald." Nico said with another twitchy bow

"Friends of yours?" Maeve said as she turned her gaze back to Arche

"Yes, we have been sticking together." Arche replied

"I suppose the pain is more fun together." Maeve said as she looked away and scratched the back of her head

"Yes I suppose?" Arche said confused about her choice of words.

"Well let's have a seat I suppose, we will be having more visitors in awhile anyway." Maeve said as she took a seat on one of the steps.

"More visitors?" Arche asked

"The Abyss Lords are coming, they wish to speak with both of us." Maeve said with a sigh

"The Abyss Lords are coming?" Nico asked excitedly

"Listen to me very carefully boy, I am going to give you some advice. The less you see of the lords the better, nothing good ever comes after meeting the lords." Maeve said coldly

"I... I'm sorry." Nico replied hesitantly

"Haaaaa…" Maeve sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Her eyes squinted as if trying to block some mental image only known to her.

"Maeve?" Arche asked concerned

"It's nothing… ok let's just move on, so you got your weapons today?" Maeve said as she hastily tried to change the subject

"Yes Nico and I did." Arche replied

"Well it looks like yours is a Life Hunter, I'm guessing you got a butterfly mask?" Maeve said

"Yes I did, although I don't really know how to control my powers." Arche said

"You'll figure it out, just eat a few hollows and some of it will start coming to you naturally." Maeve said with a wave of her hand

"So if I just devour some hollows it will make me understand?" Arche asked

"When you devour a hollow, your infuse your soul with abyss, now most of your powers are coming from the hollow within you. By eating hollows you strengthen your soul allowing you to better control and command your inner hollow." Maeve explained

"Then what about my weapon, it seems so… weak?" Arche asked

"Why would you say it's weak?" Maeve asked

"I can't sense any magic off of it." Arche replied

"Of course not, look at this." Maeve said as she pulled a black dagger out from a hole in reality.

The dagger was strange it had an extremely thin blade, only slightly thicker than a stiletto. The handle was long enough for two handed use and the blade was just as long. There were blue glowing runes on the flat of the blade and on the hilt.

"This is my abyss weapon, the Dark Moon Dirk, tell me what do you see when you look at this Arche." Maeve said as she showed Arche the blade

Arche gazed at the strange dagger and saw only a slight mana signature off it, it was very faint making it seem like some weakly enchanted dagger.

"It looks… really weak…" Arche said confused. There was no way Maeve would use such a weak weapon

Then Maeve twirled the dagger in her hand and a bright blue mana blade formed around the blade, increasing its length to that of a short sword. Immediately Arche could see the difference, the dagger seemed to to release a maelstrom of mana as her whole world was dyed in technicolor. Maeve twirled the dagger once more and the mana blade vanished reverting it back to it's plain unassuming state.

"What was that?" Arche asked stunned

"My weapon needs to be powered using my mana. The more mana I pour into it the stronger it becomes. Yours should work similarly, I know this because Lady Friede also has a Life Hunter weapon. Although her's is much much more powerful." Maeve said

"How is hers more powerful?" Arche asked

"Well you see Arche if you and your master were both to cast a fireball who would be able to cast a stronger spell?" Maeve asked

"My master." Arche replied

"Well it's the same, your weapon powers is dependant on you, it's not so much a piece of equipment and more of a piece of your soul made manifest as a weapon. The stronger you become the stronger your weapon is." Maeve explained

"Lady Friede has the Life Hunter Scythe…" Anri said

"Yes she does, Arche why don't you try casting a spell with that staff." Maeve said

Arche nodded and looked to the staff in her hand. [Burn Lance] Arche intoned and out of the end of the staff shot out a fire blade, turning her staff into a halberd.

"Woa…" Arche said as she gazed at the staff

"You may want to learn how to fight using more physical means and explore what you can do with that staff." Maeve said

Arche could feel her mana being slowly drained as she held the staff, it was like a channel spell. Arche cut the flow of mana and the fire blade vanished. She wondered if she used a different spell what would happen?

[Flash] Arche intoned and a ball of blinding light appeared on the top of the staff. The light remained at the top of the staff, the flash of light was not strong enough to totally blind someone. It was just enough to cause a strong glare, like one would experience when they gazed into the sun.

"This is very interesting…" Arche said as her scholarly side started to emerge as she thought about the possibilities of this weapon.

"I'll have someone come to teach you how to better use that." Maeve said

"Wait just me?" Arche asked

"Yes just you, you want to get back to your family don't you?" Maeve replied

"Then what about the rest of the children?" Arche asked

"They go on as they always have, you on the other hand will be getting a little extra help." Maeve said calmly

"Isn't that unfair?" Arche asked

"Yes it is, life is unfair, you get to be in and out of here in under a year while others toil for centuries here. I am the Herald, the job comes with a few perks." Maeve replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Can Nico and Anri join me?" Arche asked

"You are too kind for your own good Arche, most of the children here will never leave this place. I suggest you worry about yourself first, you are a long way off from going home." Maeve said coldly

"I…" Arche stuttered

"Arche it's fine, go for it. Besides if you become strong you can help us out in the next hunt." Nico said

"Yes I heard the next hunt is coming soon, you will need to prepare if you want to survive it." Maeve said

"Hunt?" Arche asked perplexed

"What you think they cook the hollows for you and serve it to you on silverware?" Maeve asked eyebrows raised

"No… so we will go hunting for hollows soon?" Arche asked

"Yes, the more you eat the stronger you become, the more you eat the sooner you go home." Maeve said calmly

"I see…" Arche said as she looked down at the floor.

"Ok, well I need to go speak with the Shrine Maiden before the lords arrive. I'll come get you when it's time." Maeve said as she stood up and started walking towards the Shrine Maiden

Arche sat quietly on the floor, somehow this didn't sit well for her. The empire was always a nation founded on meritocracy. Yes, some people did get preferential treatment occasionally but more often than not people got what they earned. Nothing was given for free, you had to work for it.

"It's great to be born under a lucky star isn't it?" a voice said from behind her

Arche turned to see Horace sitting on the steps behind her. He had his legs crossed and was hunched forward as he glared at her.

"The herald had it easy too when she was here, the best hunting grounds reserved for her. Priority in food, priority in tutelage, priority in everything. She was the fastest out of here in recorded history, she just popped in ate all the good prey and vanished. Never said anything to us, never a helping hand, just a cold indifference as if our suffering was to be expected and her ascension was a god given right." Horace growled

"She never even told us her name." Anri said wistfully

"We were beneath her, we always have been and always will be. Now look at you the Heralds little pet, an audience with the lords? I overheard all off them are coming, what's so special about you?" Horace said he stood up and stormed over to Arche.

"Back off Horace." Nico said as he stood up and got in front of the seated Arche.

"Look at you, little lamb playing knight. I saw what you were doing, you watched and saw how long she held her hand in the fire. I've been here a long time and I know how people like you are. You're just a stray dog begging for table scraps, when one day you will be the one to be served." Horace hissed

"What… no I'm her friend…" Nico said defensively

"Hahahaha I am sure you are, do you know why this place exists?" Horace asked a malicious grin on his face

"To train us, to help us control our powers." Nico replied

"No not us, to train people like her." Horace said as he pointed his finger at Arche

"What are you talking about?" Arche said as she stood up

"Where do you think all those hollows come from? They used to be the children here. They send us out to hunt, if we lose we turn hollow, if we win we get stronger or should I say fatter." Horace said

"No you're just bitter, you can't get out of here so you're trying to get into our heads, make us slip up." Arche said as she shook her head

"Of course I'm bitter, what cattle isn't? They let us feed, fatten us up and then serve us to the likes of you. " Horace hissed

Arche paused at those words, Horace was making some sense. If you were to farm a group of cattle, making them feed themselves was a very effective strategy. But no, it doesn't make sense, then why all the spend effort into making everyone believe they have hope? No it can't be… no even if it was true, she would get Nico and Anri out. They didn't deserve to rot in this place, she would get stronger, share her kills with them. If the world was so unfair and broken then she would try to put a little bit of it back together.

"I don't care what the truth is, I don't care why they made this place, I will get Nico and Anri out. No one chooses the circumstances they find themselves in. It is our choice how we want to live and I choose to try. I'm not like you, I haven't given up." Arche spat as she turned and walked off

"You think you're better than us?" Horace said to her back

"No I choose to be." Arche said with a backward glance

**1 hour later**

Arche stood next to Maeve next to the profaned flame and faced the four empty thrones. The other children were seated on the steps. Arche waited patiently as she reflected on Horace's words, perhaps most of these children were just cattle. Embers to kindle the flame of a true child of the abyss, fuel for the fire…

She looked around to the many gathered men and women in robes who surrounded the thrones. They were the keepers of the fire, the men and women who cared for this place religiously. Nico had told her they were like some cult that worshipped the abyss and the profaned flame. They pledge their lives to tend to the shrine and profaned flame. Only death may relieve them of their sacred duty.

Then she felt the air grow cold as a winter's night and a wave of darkness flooded the room and coalesced at the thrones. The shrine keepers knelt and began to chant in some unknown language.

_Krist en memonte _

_Broustand au mon_

_Faciem autem finalis iudicii_

_Buo lenda mam algorre_

_Tyalla mon d'au fess e marha_

_E mallum y venema_

On and on they chanted with a religious zeal that would put the most devout priests of the six to shame. Maeve turned to look at her and saw her perplexed expression.

_Christen my Motive_

_First we behold_

_Final trial we face_

_I hide among you_

_Facing my fire_

_At night I dream_

Maeve said as they chanted each verse.

"The hymn of the keepers." Maeve said

"I see…" Arche said as she looked up and saw the darkness take form.

Arche looked up at the towering giants, she could sense their primordial power. If she had to choose words to describe them it would death, decay and eldritch. They looked like beings who should not exist and are clinging to existence. Wielding powers most profane, they rule this cruel dark world.

On the right sat the Abyss Lord Farron, a giant with rotting armor and wielding a giant greatsword. His armor had glowing purple crystals growing on it like barnacles and drapes of tattered cloth covered his torso in what used to be a cloak. Arche recognised him from when she first arrived.

"Arche may I introduce the Lords of the Abyss. Sovereign lords of the profaned valley. You have already met Lord Farron the Great Wolf." Maeve said gesturing to the giant that sat on the throne on the extreme right.

"Show us your mask child." Lord Farron commanded, his voice sounding like the howls of a mortally wounded animals.

Arche gulped and called upon her mask, she felt it appear on her face. She tried her best to gaze unflinchingly at the giants before her.

"This one has spirit." spoke the lord to Farron's left

"Arche this Aldrich the Saint of the Abyss." Maeve said

Maeve said this as she gestured to the towering giant wearing pitch black robes. In his hand held a staff, atop the staff hung many bells that jingled as the staff moved. His robes were stained with black ichor that constantly dripped from his hooded face staining his robes. From under his hood a pair of red lights that seemed to peer into the depths of Arche's soul. The only visible part of of his body were his hands that emerged from the robes, one hand clutching the staff the other resting on his knees. His hands were gnarled and black, the skin was tightly pulled over bones. His emancipated hands implied weakness but Arche was no fool. In here the rules of normal logic do not apply.

"Ah it is warming to see another butterfly after so long." spoke the next lord in line.

"This is Lady Friede the Weeping Widow." Maeve said

"A pleasure child." Friede said.

Lady Friede was dressed in a long flowing black dress. She had silver armor over her chest and shoulders. On her hands she wore silver gauntlets, in her right hand she clutched a long scythe. Arche noticed the blade and handle was engraved in the same manner that her staff was. The engravings depicted butterflies landing on wilted dead flowers. The blade of the scythe was covered in a layer of frost, the blade was greatly curved giving it an evil and menacing appearance. On her head she wore a black veil that hid her hace, Arche could see a silhouette of a head with long flowing hair. Her eyes like all the others were twin red glowing orbs.

"Child I sense a gentle heart within you, I beseech you to discard your sensibilities. Happiness and warmth have no place in this valley. I give this advice as one who has walked the same path as you." Lady Friede said with a voice filled with sorrow

"I… thank you Lady Friede." Arche said hesitantly as she gave her an awkward bow.

"I believe that leaves me then." said the last abyss lord

"Yes, Arche this is Lady Priscilla the Dancer of the Profaned Valley." Maeve said

Lady Priscilla was maiden garbed in dark armor that glowed with a purple iridescence. The armor was made of countless interlocking strips of plates giving the impression that the armor was in fact her skin. The plates folded and overlapped as she moved giving off a strange jingling noise. She wore a strange helm with rows of metal strips dangling from the top of her helm giving the impression of a metallic veil. She was armed with a pair of swords, one gave off a blue mana glow the other was wreathed in a purple fire.

"An honour to meet you all my Lords and Ladies." Arche said with a bow

"Good now that everyone is acquainted with each other may I know why you desire to speak with us?" Maeve asked irritably.

"Hasty as ever I see." Aldrich said with a laugh

"Lady Herald I know you still resent us for what happened all those years ago…" Lady Friede said

"Enough the past is the past, now what do you want?" Maeve said testily

"We wish to discuss if you are willing to put Arche through the trial of ascension." Farron growled

"Of course I am, that's why I brought her here." Maeve replied icily

"I hope you remember what that entails." Farron replied

"Of course." Maeve said icily

"Very well, if your conviction falters I will personally devour your dear protege here." Farron growled

"I don't like threats Farron, I hope you remember who my father is." Maeve replied coldly

"I remember well, I hope you remember your duty as well." Farron snarled

"Don't lecture me about duty, I bear a much heavier burden than any of you." Maeve spat

"I am not contesting that fact, we all know of your service. We are concerned about your convictions judging by… past occurrences…" Farron said

"We are just worried Maeve…" Friede said sympathetically

"I don't need your pity Friede and I will uphold my end of the bargain." Maeve hissed

"Hmm very well, now there is one more matter on the agenda." Aldrich said

"And that is?" Maeve asked

"Due to the situation on Realm 235 we have decided in the interests of time that the trial will take place in two months time." Aldrich said

"What? Two months that's around the same time I took. She will never make it in time." Maeve shot back enraged

"We will be suspending all training within the shrine, all efforts shall be geared towards preparing her. We will also be sending personal retainers to train her and lastly the trial will be done on a coalescent structure." Farron said

"A coalescent structure? Are you just doing this to spite me Farron?" Maeve said, her voice shaking in rage as her mask formed over face.

"We are doing this to test you, fulfill your half of the bargain and consider your past wrongs undone." Farron replied

"I don't need your forgiveness Farron." Maeve retorted

"Yes you do, we control when and how the trials occur. In this realm we rule as decreed by the supreme ones." Farron said smugly

"I will remember this Farron." Maeve seethed

"I hope you do _Lady Herald_." Farron replied

"Anything else you wish to tell us my Lords and Ladies." Maeve said as she trembled in rage

"No nothing else for now, we will be in touch." Farron replied as the lords dissolved into darkness and vanished.

Arche looked to Maeve who was still standing there fists clenched gazing hatefully at the empty throne of Lord Farron. Her mask remained as she stood stiff as a board and seethed…

"Lady Herald, child we should speak of thine future arrangements." the Shrine Maiden said as she approached the pair.

"Yes we should…" Maeve replied quietly

"Come child, join the other children." the Shrine Maiden said as she gestured to Arche

Maeve watched as Arche rejoined the other children. She turned to look at the Shrine Maiden and her ever smiling face. This woman robbed of her sight but granted the power to see beyond mortal sight. To see the ends of the strings of fate of those tied to ash, few are able to peer into the Book of Destiny. Yet the 41 have granted her this gift, the perfect ability to decide who gets to leave this accursed place.

"Tell me Shrine Maiden do you ever feel any remorse for what you do here?" Maeve asked quietly

"Thou asketh a most difficult question. I prithee asketh not for answers to questions that thine heart desires not." the Shrine Maiden replied

"So will this time be any different?" Maeve asked

"Thine heart knows the answer to that question." the Shrine Maiden replied

"Yes I suppose it does…" Maeve said with a resigned sigh

Maeve looked to Arche who was talking with Nico and Anri. No doubt Nico was explaining how the Coalescent Structure worked. To most children this was a hopeful thing but to those who knew the truth it was anything but hopeful.

"Come children gather around, Arche I prithee step forward." the Shrine Maiden said

Arche stepped forward and turned to face the other children. Some were hopeful, others were dejected knowing that they won't be chosen.

"Arche thy must choose three other children to join you in the trial. Together you must overcome the trials in order to ascend to the title of ashen one." the Shrine Maiden said

"I choose Nico and Anri." Arche said immediately

"Who shall be the last child?" the Shrine Maiden asked

Arche paused for a moment as she thought about it, the last person needed to be strong. Also someone who could be trusted. Was trust that important? After all once in the trial, everyone would be an ally. It would be in everyone's self interest for them to work together.

"I choose Horace." Arche said

"Really? You trust me enough to bring me along?" Horace asked eyebrows raised

"I trust your self interest. In the trial we must work together, united we stand, divided we fall. I don't need to trust you, I just need to trust your desire to get out of here." Arche replied

"Very well, try not to slow me down." Horace said with a nod

Maeve stood and watched as Arche spoke with the other three. In their eyes she saw hope, in her own eyes however there was only pain hidden behind her burning mask.

"Ashen one, the flowers are in bloom are they not? Ask the little birds they will tell…" the Shrine Maiden said

Maeve turned her head ever so lightly and looked at the Shrine Maiden's smiling face. She replied in a voice only the Shrine Maiden would hear.

_It's a beautiful day to be burning in hell…_

**Authors Notes:**

**Hey guys sorry this chapter is a day late, had some IRL stuff going on. The next chapter should be on time. It might a longer 1 week chapter, I'll see how it goes.**

**Hope you are liking this arc that brings us through the Profaned Valley. So if you like it leave a review, any criticism is welcome.**

**See you guys in the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

Arche walked into the sparring room followed by NIco, Anri and Horace. Standing in the middle of the room stood a small diminutive man, He had olive coloured skin and dark curly hair, he stood with his back to them as they entered. He wore light armor and had a rapier on his waist made of some unknown dark metal.

He turned and revealed a long beaked mask with two circular eyes. He wore the mask of the Plague Doctor, those who possess this mask have natural abilities catered towards pestilence and disease. Burdening their foes with damage over time effects and debuffs. The drawback was that the Plague Doctor was fragile with poor constitution and vitality. The make up for it by being quick and depowering their opponent.

"Greetings children, I am Forrel, for 10 000 years I have been first blade to the Dancer Lady Priscilla. My lady has commanded that I teach you the ways of the dance." Forrel said

"The dance?" Horace asked sceptically

"Yes, have you ever heard of Lord Takemikazuchi's 100 forms?" Forrel said

"I have." Anri replied

"You know what they are?" Forrel asked

"They are forms of combat developed by Warrior Takemikazuchi sama." Anri said

"Very good girl, now I will be teaching you the hardest form. It is a form only used by abyss users with the exception of course of Lord Takemikazuchi. It is form 100 the Dance of the Profaned Valley, unlike the Watchdogs of Farron or the Reapers of Friede we fight with grace and speed." Forrel said

"We will be in your care." Arche said respectfully

"Good, now step forward young butterfly." Forrel said as he turned walked to his side of the arena

Arche took her position opposite him, she reached for her staff on her back. Before she had even grabbed the staff she saw Forrel dart towards her and she felt his rapier pierce into her chest.

"Slow." Forrel said

"I wasn't ready." Arche replied through gritted teeth as she felt the cool metal in her chest.

"Best time to kill another is when they aren't ready." Forrel said as he twisted his rapier and mercilessly ripped it out of her chest.

Arche groaned and made to rise but before she could even get up Forrel was on her again this time his rapier went through her throat. Arche could only gurgle as she felt the warm blood build up in her mouth.

"Slow." Forrel said again

Arche now wiser to his intentions was reaching for her staff before he had even said those words. As soon as the rapier was out she channeled a burn lance into her staff and took a swing at Forrel before he could pull his rapier out. Forrel deftly pulled out his rapier and darted backwards to dodge the burning blade. Arche formed her mask and gazed at the little man.

"Slow." Forrel said

Arche grit her teeth and charged him while channeling a fireball in her other hand. She had a plan, it would be painful but she would at least get a hit in. She swung her staff wide aiming for his neck, predictably he dodged under the strike and counter attacked. Instead of dodging she leaned into the strike making it pierce her chest to the hilt. With one arm she grasped his head and fired off her spell at his chest point blank range engulfing them both in flames. She felt her grip loosen and the him extracted himself from her grip. As the flames died she saw both of them had light burns on their exposed skin.

"You fight just like Lady Friede, absolutely no regard for yourself. This is good, take advantage of your strengths, the butterflies boast the best regeneration of any of the masks." Forrel said with a nod

Arche didn't reply instead she charged him again flaming staff raised. She expected him to dodge instead she saw him vanish into a cloud of darkness. Then she felt the rapier pierce her from behind, instinctively she grasped the rapier intent on immobilising his weapon. To her shock she saw the blade vanish into darkness as well. She saw the darkness reform under her a mass of darkness shot out and blasted her into the air. She could feel her bones shattered under the force of the blow, when she landed she staggered to her feet, her entire body wracked in agony. She looked up and saw she was surrounded by eight shadowy versions of Forrel, they all raised their rapiers and charged her. In her panic she raised her staff but it was too little too late, she was pierced in the abdomen from eight sides. She saw the shadows twist their blade and slashed to the side decapitating her from the waist down. Then the shadows reformed and Forrel kicked her torso and launched her back trailing her entrails along the stone floor. Arche weakly looked down at her now missing bottom half before falling unconscious.

Nico looked on horrified as Arche was cut in two, he was about to rise and run to her side when Anri grabbed his arm.

"Wait, she does not fight alone." Anri said

Nico watched as Arche's body began to give off a black radiance, he watched astonished as her entrails dragged along the floor towards her body, then her now separated lower half twitched and shot towards her torso rejoining her body. Her body twitched once more and her eyes opened revealing a dark red glow. Dark tendrils emerged from her back and spread along the floor, her body rose as if she was held up by strings and was brought back on her feet. The strings were cut and she hunched over motionless. Suddenly her right arm tensed and made a grasping motion. Her staff that was on the ground flew off the ground and into her waiting hand. She brandished the staff and black scythe made from darkness appeared from the end of the staff.

"Truly you are like Lady Friede." Forrel said

Arche raised her head and revealed a wide beaming smile.

"I should thank you, mistress will be away for awhile. Let's have some fun shall we." Arche said with a grin

Tendrils formed around Arche and morphed into blade blades. The blades shot forth towards Forrel, there was a flash and the blades were shattered. Faster than the eyes could see Forrel had parried the strikes with enough force to shatter the blades.

"Begone Hollow, I am here to train the girl not a sinner like you." Forrel said contemptuously

His form shimmered and vanished in an instant there was s spray of blood as Arche received numerous slashes all across her body and the mask on her face shattered. Arche collapsed once her mask crumbled, her source of power fading.

"If you wish to fight a Successor of Ash hollow, you are ten thousand years too early." Forrel said dismissively

"Come children one of you help her to the side." Forrel said

Nico and Anri rose and began to move Arche off to the side of the sparring arena. The remaining three were tense as they all saw the power Forrel could put on display. Now it was their turn, they hoped they wouldn't get slashed up too badly…

**2 Hours Later**

Arche woke up with a groan, her entire body ached especially her abdomen. She tried to raise herself but felt a sharp pain in her belly. She then felt a hand push her down, the hand was gentle and warm.

"Stay down Arche you're still hurt." she heard Nico say

Arche turned to see Nico sitting next to her, he had nasty gash across his face going over his left eye. She could see the wound was healing but rather slowly.

"What happened." Arche said weakly

"You got hurt really bad, Forrel did a number on all of us. You got the worst of it, I think he knew about your regeneration abilities which is why he cut you up so bad." Nico replied softly

"Your stomach hurt?" Horace asked from the side

"Yea very, it feels like I got cut in half." Arche said jokingly

"You aren't wrong, I'm guessing you don't remember. Forrel cut you in half and you passed out, then your hollow came out and pieced you back together. Then Forrel cut your hollow to ribbons and that's that." Horace said gruffly

"I got cut in half?" Arche asked horrified

"It's probably best you don't remember." Nico said

"It's time to eat." Anri said out of the blue

"I think I'll skip dinner for today, I don't think I can make the walk." Arche said with groan

"I'll bring some for you later, just rest up in the meantime." Nico said as he stood up along with the rest.

Arche watched as the other three walked off towards the dining hall. She tried once more to raise her torso but again she fell back onto the cold stone as a sharp pain fired up from her abdomen. Arche closed her eyes and decided to re enter her mind scape since her body was essentially immobilised. It wasn't ideal, her chest felt tight and it was difficult to breathe. The pains and aches that wracked her body were distracting but she managed somehow.

Arche once again found herself in her family home, surrounding her was the four shadow apparitions. They all glared at her as she appeared, she looked around nothing has changed here. Everything looked exactly the same down to the silverware on the table.

"Hello girl, what do you want?" her mother asked

"I'm here to talk." Arche replied

"That's a relief I thought you were coming in here to start breaking windows again." Kuurderika said spitefully

"No, I am here to ask you something." Arche said

"Out with it." her father growled

"Why do you only come out when I'm unconscious and why am I so much stronger when you are in control?" Arche asked her eyes narrowed

"Why should we give you our full power? You are weak." her father spat

"Yes I am weak, that isn't a good thing not for me and not for you." Arche said

"Oh but it is, if you die we can take over." her mother said with a laugh

"Yes you take over then what?" Arche asked

"What are you saying girl." Kuurderika hissed

"You realise what The Shrine of Ash is right? It's a prison and a pen for livestock. The Children of Ash are the prisoners and you hollows are the livestock. If you want any hope of leaving this place we have to work together." Arche stated

"Once we take over we will be free to roam, then we will have plenty of juicy children as fare." her mother said

"Until you meet someone stronger, judging by how badly I am hurt I am assuming you lost quite badly." Arche said

"Silence weakling, without us you would be dead." Kuurderika hissed

"Yes if this body dies so do you. Fact is we are stuck together now, one day another Forrel or Maeve will come along and the big fish will eat the little fish." Arche said

"Hmph I have seen the quality of children here, we can kill every last one of them if we have to." her mother said

"Are you all idiots? The good ones have all left the shrine, Horace said Maeve came in and ate all the good prey. I am sure after her visit the population of strong hollows must have been culled quite significantly. If you stay here your fate is clear, you will be devoured." Arche said

"What's the difference if we leave? If we take over when you get out, the ashen ones will hunt us down. We will die and be devoured, just like in here." her father replied

"Then don't take over, I will get out of here and there are many enemies to destroy. A feast fit for a king, the world shall be our oyster." Arche said

"Hmmm." the apparitions stayed silent as they listened

"We work together and get out, keep me alive and I will do the same for you. We will have strong friends at our back, your predators will become your allies. We shall hunt eternal, growing ever stronger." Arche said

"Hmmm you are an interesting one indeed, very well that Forrel is strong. Even if we took over we would stand no chance against one such as he, you will have our cooperation girl." her father said

"Nice doing business with you." Arche said as she willed her mind back to reality

When she awoke she summoned her mask and she heard the voice in her head.

"You hear us girl?" the voice said

"Yes, now heal me." Arche said mentally

She felt the pain and aches start to fade as her regeneration kicked in. She sat up and moved her limbs testing them. The pain was gone and she felt good as new. She realised she had this strange feeling at the back of her mind, like she had extra limbs coming out of her back. It was then she noticed the tentacles coming out of her back and hovering over her shoulder.

"These are our arms girl, learn to use them well." the voice said

Arche found she could control them instinctively, however she still needed to dedicate her focus to controlling it. It was nowhere near the level of the level of muscle memory she had compared to her normal limbs. She knew she would not be able to fight like this as stiff as she was with these new appendages.

"There's a trick with these." the voices said

Arche watched as three of the tentacles combined and formed a sharp black blade. She watched as the blade shot forth and stabbed the air 10 metres in front of her. This would definitely be useful. Now she just needed practice…

Maeve stood with Forrel at the top of the stairs looking down at Arche testing out her new powers.

"Nice job with that, that was must faster than I expected." Maeve said

"She is a sharp girl, there is hope for her yet." Forrel replied

"I hope you weren't too hard on her." Maeve said eyebrows raised

"I am as hard as I need to be to make her strong." Forrel replied

"Yes of course." Maeve said with a sigh

"Lady Herald if you would permit me to say one thing." Forrel said

"Go on." Maeve replied

"It is not a good thing to grow attached to others for accursed ones such as we. We are beings of darkness and death, warmth and compassion have little use for us." Forrel replied

"And yet you agreed to my request." Maeve replied

"I do what my lady bids." Forrel said calmly

"Well I appreciate your advice Forrel, you have done me a great service I will not forget it." Maeve said with a smile

"It was my honour Lady Herald." Forel said with a bow

"Also one more thing Forrel." Maeve said as she turned and faced one of the dark hallways.

"Just as we are tied to the abyss a part of us is also mortal. Our mortal half is what allows us to do the 41's work, never underestimate the power of our mortal half. After all it is all that separates us from the hollows." Maeve said before she walked down one of the dark corridors.

Forrel looked on silently as the Herald vanished into a cloud of darkness.

"Perhaps you are right Lady Herald, but warmth only brings pain for the accursed such as I." Forrel said softly

**The next day**

Arche stood once again in the sparring arena facing off against Forrel. She was guarded since he attacked without warning the last time, however this time she had access to her superior regeneration. She was willing to trade blows just to use the element of surprise, one good hit with her tentacle blades was all she needed.

"Come girl show me your mask." Forrel said calmly his rapier still at his waist

Arche raised her eyebrow suspicious.

"It's not a trick girl, I will tell you why I did what I did yesterday if you show me your mask." Forrel said

Arche paused for a moment before relenting and summoning her mask. Immediately a dark aura emanated from her back and black tentacles with maws filled with serrated teeth appeared.

"Hmm good, hold out your hand." Forrel said

Arche did as she was bid still suspicious. In a flash his hand gripped her forearm there was a glint of silver and his rapier flashed severing her hand at the wrist. Arche jolted at the sudden attack but found she could not withdraw her arm from his iron grip. She watched as her hand regenerated in seconds, first the bone formed then the muscles and sinew, finally the skin appeared over her flesh.

"Very good, it appears last session was fruitful. I assume you have reached an accord with your hollows." Forrel said

"Yes, was that your intention all along?" Arche asked

"Yes you must make your hollow fear if you want it to listen. You have a sentient hollow, this is rare and extremely powerful." Forrel said

"I realised, it makes my regeneration stronger and adds these extra blades to my disposal." Arche said as the tentacles formed into a pair of black blades.

"That is a minor point, the truth is that a sentient hollow grants you a partner in combat. The reason why Ashen Ones are so hard to defeat in combat is because it is like you are fighting several opponents trapped in a single body. Often you will see Ashen Ones dueling multiple people at once from different directions before suddenly switching target and eliminating one. Remember this well girl, to fight in the outside world the best strategy is one of attrition, in the profaned valley you need to fight with overwhelming power." Forrel said

"I see, then what about those who don't have a sentient hollow." Arche said clearly referring to the trio seated on the floor.

"They are weak, all who hold the title of Ashen One has a sentient hollow. Although many without one have tried none have succeeded." Forrel said

"Well good thing we get to fight the trials together then." Arche replied

"Yes a good thing indeed. I wish you all good fortune, it is a rare opportunity." Forrel replied calmly

"Were they too weak or were they just not allowed to even attempt the trials?" Arche asked coldly

"The trials have a barrier, only one of sufficient power can pass through or… a group with sufficient power. The trials are designed to be highly specific, we do not wish to send children blindly into fights they cannot win." Forrel replied

"If we don't reach the required power for us to enter before the date of the trial?" Arche asked

"That is unlikely, your natural ability is high with a few hollows devoured and some proper training you will be able to enter." Forrel said confidently

"I see, so what now?" Arche asked

"Now I will teach you the dance, the dance relies on your hollow powers as much as your personal skills, for example." Forrel said as a long tail appeared tipped with a red glowing blade at the end.

"Your hollow type is known as a Vine Type, mine is known as a Stinger Type. Mine excels in attacks at range and strong piercing attacks." Forrel said as his tail shot forth from behind him like a scorpion. The tail moved faster than Arche's eye could follow and impaled itself on the wall behind her.

Arche turned to look at the tail's target stunned, the range on that thing is incredible. The wall was almost 20 metres behind her…

"The Vine Type is excellent at close to medium range combat, you can use your Vines for movement, disables, strikes from unexpected angles or simply to strike at a single point hard enough to break someone's guard. It is the most versatile of the types." Forrel said

"So how are you going to train me?" Arche asked

"Simple we fight but only with our abyss powers." Forrel said as he sheathed his rapier and brandished his tail.

Arche put aside her staff and raised her blades in a defensive position. Forrel took a step forward and Arche took a step back. That was a poor decision… Forrel's tail shot forth Arche raised her blades in an attempt to block but was too slow and found herself thrown back and impaled against the wall. She coughed out a mouthful of blood as Forrel retracted the tail.

"Slow." Forrel said

Arche glared at him in response and rose to her feet as the wound in her chest closed in seconds. She spat out another mouthful of blood and wiped her mouth on her robes.

"You are thinking when you use your abyss powers, they are a part of you. Do you need to think when you move your arm? Do you think how you should move your legs when you run? It is part of you as much as your arms and legs are." Forrel said

Arche nodded bitterly as she rose again and raised her blades.

"Girl let us take the left blade you take the right." the voices said. Arche gave mental note of acknowledgement and steeled herself again.

This time the tail shot forth again, she saw the blade on left dart off to the side and transformed into tentacles and dragged her off to the left dodging the tail. The tail retracted and shot out again, this type Arche was ready for it and she sent her blade forward in a parry strike. Her blade struck the side of the tail knocking it off course. However the force of the tail was enough to knock her off balance, she would have fallen if not for her left side bracing into the ground and steadying her. Arche knew now at a distance she had no chance she needed to get closer. She willed the right blade to turn back into tentacles and shot them forward and used them to pull her forward. The tail shot out again this time her left blade came and parried the blow Arche expecting the force this time released the tentacles and allowed her to be knocked away before latching onto the ground again. She used the momentum to swing herself closer to his right side.

"Behind us." the voice said

Arche felt her blood run cold when she realised that the tail was not being retracted. She realised too late that at this distance the tail had the freedom to move in any direction. She felt a blade plunge into her back and she found herself pinned into the floor.

"A much better attempt, now let's try again." Forrel said

The training dragged on for hours, each time Arche got a little better at controlling her vines. She realised they were extremely versatile, she had six total to work with, three tentacles made a blade, two made a rapier and six made a massive cleaver. She even managed to conjure a shield using four vines although that shield was pierced quite easily by the tail. She was learning the strengths and weaknesses of her abilities rapidly. She found as she fought there was a tempo to fighting in this way, like the push and pull of the waves. Strike and recover, dodge and reposition, parry and riposte, it was truly like a dance. At the end of it all a very exhausted Arche knelt with one knee on the ground panting.

"Very good attempts today, there may be hope for you yet." Forrel said with a nod

"Thanks I guess." Arche said breathing hard

It frustrated her to no end how easily Forrel was toying with her, throughout the entire session he had simply stood still with his arms crossed and let his tail fight her. So far she had not even managed to make him take a single step back. In contrast she was dashing around him and being thrown across the room like a ball. There were times she swore she saw him close his eyes as he parried her strikes. It was a level of power and skill she had never imagined possible, if Forrel was fighting in earnest she would be ended in a second.

"Ok now then who wants to go next?" Forrel asked

**That Evening**

Arche sat on the steps of the main hall with the other three. They were all covered in wounds, Nico had the worst one. He was lying down and had lost an eye when the rapier caught him in the face, now there was just an empty bloody socket and a bone deep gash across his face. It should be healed by the next morning but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt like hell. Arche was currently using her magic to chill a wet rag, once it was nice and cold she placed it over the wound.

"Ahhh much better, thanks Arche." Nico said with a sigh of relief

"Hey you took care of me now it's my turn to take care of you." Arche said gently

"Wish I had your regeneration, must be nice only having to feel wounds for only a few seconds." Nico said

"Yea but knowing you can take it makes it so you tend to get injured more." Arche replied

"Well hopefully this closes up and I get my eye back tomorrow. Nico one eye doesn't have a nice ring to it." Nico said with a weak chuckle

"Oh shut it you, just be quiet and rest." Arche said as she gave him a light tap on his forehead with her finger.

"Yes my lady." Nico said with a laugh as he closed his one remaining eye

"You kids seems to have been roughed up." said a voice

Arche turned to see the skeleton guard that was always hanging out in the corner of every room she was ever in.

"Hello… I'm sorry I never got your name." Arche replied politely

"Hehe the names Sans, Judicator Sans." Sans said as he took his hand out of his pocket and held out his hand.

Arche rose and reached out to take his hand, when she grasped his hand she heard the sound of a loud fart echoing out in the hall. Arche watched as Sans extracted his skeletal hand a revealed a box with a button strapped to his palm. He pressed the button and another loud fart echoed from the box.

"Hehe gets them every time." Sans said with a chuckle

Sans merely stood there and looked at her in silence after that with a goofy grin on his face. Arche looked blankly at the skeleton before him, for the first time in her life she was truly lost for words. This was getting extremely awkward…

"Errrrr… ok how may I help you Sans?" Arche asked

"Oh it's nothing really, just wanted to tell you not to get too comfortable here. This isn't supposed to be a happy place." Sans said his tone suddenly changing

Arche took a step back as she felt the aura of intimidation radiate off him, but as quickly as it appeared, it vanished.

"Hehe, just kidding, I'm a bad liar. You know why?" Sans said with another chuckle

"Erm no… why?" Arche asked now thoroughly unsettled by this strange skeleton

"Because people can see right through me." Sans said

"Ah… I see… because you're a skeleton and I can see… right through… you…" Arche said with a strained expression on her face

"Hehe, skeletons are good at jokes you know?" Sans said

"Really?" Arche replied trying to be polite

"Yea because we have funny bones." Sans said as he held his arms up to his sides in an exaggerated shrug.

"Ah I see…" Arche replied. In her mind this was quickly becoming one of the most painful conversations of her life.

Arche turned to look at the rest, Horace gave her a look and then proceeded to turn and lie down with his back to her. Anri simply nonchalantly took out her sword and started to polish it, if there was any grim on that blade she couldn't see it…

Then she heard the bell toll high above her signalling it was time for their meal. Arche never thought she would ever be happy to leave to eat that rancid weed but life took strange turns sometimes.

"Ah it's time for our meal, perhaps we could talk some other time?" Arche said

"Yea sure thing kid, Bone Appetit." Sans said with a wide smile on his face.

Arche quickly turned and grabbed Nico by the arm and hoisted him onto her shoulders and began quickly walking out of the main hall. For some reason Arche felt really… really uncomfortable around that skeleton…

Sans watched as the four children disappeared down the hallway. He sensed two figures looking down at him from the top of the stairs. They were there from the beginning watching his entire interaction with the children.

His form shimmered and he appeared at the top of the stairs, he looked to see the pair had already turned to face him. Their eyes were cold as they gazed at him, there was a tint of hate within those gazes. He wasn't surprised, after all he was the Judicator, no one likes the warden of a prison. He looked to the blonde girl with mismatched eyes, Maeve the Herald of the Abyss, the daughter of the dark god Momonga. He remembers her time here, it was a short stay much to his chagrin. Then there was Syrio Forrel, the first blade to Lady Priscilla, another child turn lap dog for the lords of the abyss.

"What do you want with them Judicator." Maeve asked coldly

"What? Can't I chat with the children under my care?" Sans replied with a smile and a shrug

"Trying to learn about your prisoners?" Forrel replied raising an eyebrow

"Prisoner is such a harsh word, I prefer honoured guests." Sans said with a light chuckle

"Beautify it all you want Judicator, but the truth remains the same." Maeve said

"Hehe, it's a job after all, besides I'm good at it. After all nothing gets under my skin." Sans said with another laugh

"Yes you are quite a good fit for the job Mr Comedian." Maeve growled

"No need to be so serious Lady Herald, after all I don't have a bone to pick with you." Sans said as put his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

"Hmph say what you want funny man, you will find your wish denied again this time." Maeve said

"That's quite humerus thing to say Lady Herald." Sans replied his wide smile still plastered on his face

"Well I suppose that's a typical reply from you, a skeleton with no body." Maeve said with a grin

For just a moment San's smile faltered and his left eye flashed blue.

"Ah looks we can get under your skin." Forrel said with a laugh

"Tell me Lady Herald, you've been out there, what is it like?" Sans asked

"Why you getting bored here? I thought you asked for this job?" Maeve asked, arching her left eyebrow.

"No of course not, this job fits me like a bone in a socket." Sans said with a laugh

"Then why ask, after all you will never leave this place." Forrel replied coldly

"Just wanted to hear your takes on the outside world… although I already know what's going on outside." Sans said with a shrug

"I find that hard to believe." Maeve snorted

"Oh, some things don't change you know, just like how we skeletons are like some snakes… we rattle when we move." Sans replied with a wink

"Then how do you think the outside world is?" Forrel asked

"Outside… It's a beautiful day outside, birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming…" Sans said as he turned to look at the door that leads to the dining hall.

Sans paused for a moment before turning around again, this time his left eye was alight with blue flames. Two skeletal heads appeared over his shoulders, the heads were sharp and had a long curved crown. Their eyes glowed blue and within their maws, behind rows of curved fangs you could see whorling blue energies.

Both the Herald and the Successor of Ash were silent as they gazed at the true face of the Judicator of the Ashen Shrine.

_On days like this kids like them…_

_Should be burning in hell..._

**Authors Notes:**

**So here we see Sans and a hint of what role he has to play in this dark world. Those of you who know about the story from the game should see where this is going. Please avoid spoilers in the review section.**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**Leave a review if you liked it, leave one if you have any criticisms. **

**See you guys in the next chapter**


	4. Chapter 4

Arche parried the rapier with her staff as her twin black blades shot out and downwards in front of her buying herself some much needed space. Forrel retreated but Arche having stabbed the blades into the ground used it to drag herself forward into striking distance.

[Life Hunt] Arche intoned as a black scythe formed at her staff and she swung it at Forrel. He didn't attempt to block instead he rolled away to avoid the very lethal scythe. The [Life Hunt] is a type of abyss spell, most abyss users have access to these spells. Most of the time it was learnt through experimentation or instruction by their hollows. [Life Hunt] was a spell that could be cast on her staff to conjure a black scythe made of negative energy. It's attacks were highly dangerous as the scythe did not cut, it "killed" whatever it touched, flesh, skin and armor. Whatever it slashed would find the matter in the path of the scythe reduced to ash. The only way to counter it of course is to use a weapon of similar power. Only the abyss can withstand the abyss.

Arche swung her scythe as she used her tentacles to propel her forward intent on finally landing a hit on the small man. Then she saw her opening, when she had swung her scythe he had rolled to the left, Arche had sent her left blade forward in a stab. Forrel seeing this jumped up to dodge the blade, now in the air Forrel had no way to maneuver. Arche finally tasting victory after two weeks of being hammered into the ground over and over again got excited. She raised her scythe and prepared her right blade, she was so close she could almost taste it. Then Forrel spun mid air and his tail shot forth quick as lightning. Arche tried to parry but the force of the tail knocked her staff out of her hands and her right blade couldn't make it in time. She felt the cool blade sink into her chest as she was impaled face up against the floor.

"Good attempt girl, perhaps next time you will catch me." Forrel said as the tail extracted itself out of her chest.

Arche sat up and spat out a mouthful of blood, at this point she was so accustomed to the taste of her own blood, she didn't even bother to wash her mouth afterwards. She could feel herself becoming more and more accustomed to horror and pain. Now when she fought she wouldn't mind trading a limb in exchange for an opening. She once looked at her reflection on the surface of Anri's sword, she barely recognised herself. Her face once rosy was now deathly pale, there were dark circles under her eyes. Her teeth now dyed a horrid shade of dark red due to her constant regurgitation of her own blood. Now when she bathed she would see the water run red initially from her own blood staining her hair and body.

"I think that will be all for today, I wish you luck in your hunt tomorrow." Forrel said

"Thank you." Arche replied softly

Arche the rest rose and exited the room, there were days like today where the rest didn't receive any training. It was clear the main goal was to prepare Arche for the trial, if there was anyone that going to carry this group through the trials it would Arche. The rest had no complaints, even Horace has stopped complaining after seeing the way Arche and Forrel dueled. Forrel once said the Ashen Ones were called Momonga's immortal legion for a reason. Their regeneration was excellent, most were not at the level of Arche but there were those who were far superior as well. They had been told the right hand to Lady Friede would turn her body into a red mist and reform it as a form of evasion. Apparently she had once reformed her body from a single drop of blood, giving her the moniker The Undying.

They gathered once again at their usuals spot on the steps of the great hall. There was not much conversation, for tomorrow they would be venturing into the Ringed City. It was a cursed city surrounded by a wall of Profaned Flame, this barrier was known as the dark seal. It sealed the hollows in and kept any unwanted guests out. Although what madman would ever want to break into a place like this?

"Do we have a plan for tomorrow?" Nico asked

"I'm going alone." Horace said

"No, we stick together, I'm not interested in taking table scraps. We'll work together fell big hollows and share the spoils." Arche stated

"You know you can't just eat the stronger hollows right?" Horace said

"What do you mean?" Arche asked

"Stronger hollows are sentient and they leave behind vestiges, they are memories of their past selves. To consume a strong hollow you need to be able to devour the vestige. However the vestige has a chance of overpowering you if you are too weak." Horace replied

"Don't you usually go for stronger hollows?" Arche asked her eyebrow raised

"I go for sentient hollows but not for the stronger sentient hollows. You will be able to handle most of the hollows out there just fine, so we don't actually need to stick together." Horace replied

"So it's a question of efficiency then?" Arche asked

"Yes, no sense sticking together when we can cover more ground when we split up." Horace replied

"So I assume you and Anri have preferred hunting grounds?" Arche asked

"Yes we do…" Anri replied

"What about you Nico?" Arche asked

"Erm I just followed Anri the last time." Nico said uneasily

"Well I suppose you can follow me this time around, I'm not experienced but I am strong… relatively speaking." Arche said

"Yeah, I suppose that could work." Nico replied

"Ok so lets get some rest, we have a long day tomorrow." Arche said with a sigh

**The Next Day**

"Dearest children art thou prepared? Soon thou shall journey forth into the Ringed City to seek out thy lost brethren and thou shall grant them rest eternal. I pray that thine desires shall be requited. " the Shrine Maiden said gently

The other children didn't reply, Arche looked around and saw about a dozen others. Some had determined expressions, others looked fearful. Then there was one small boy who had dark veins around his eyes, his parlour was pale and his lips were blue. To her he looked like a walking corpse. He was breathing heavily and was clutching the standard sword of those who had yet received a weapon. She could see the blade shaking as his body trembled.

"He's about to succumb…" Nico said softly to her right as he noticed what he was staring at

"Should we help him?" Arche asked

"It's pointless…" Anri replied airily

"What?" Arche asked

"He failed in the last few hunts, that is why he is the way he is. Even if we help him it will just restore him he won't become any stronger…" Nico replied grimly

"He can't even conjure his mask properly, hes doomed." Horace said dismissively

"If we help him at least he has a chance." Arche shot back trying to keep her volume down

"Going hollow is extremely painful, letting him succumb would be a mercy…" Anri said

"I hate to say it Arche, but I think Anri's right…" Nico said sadly

"Nico, we can't just let him go hollow." Arche hissed

"Then end it for him." Horace replied coldly

"What?" Arche asked

"Let him die as he is instead of having of having his soul devoured." Horace replied

"You're saying we should kill him?" Arche asked aghast

"Yes it's either that or he dies anyway, this way at least it's quick." Horace said coldly

"No, no way in hell am I killing him." Arche replied hotly

"Fine don't, it changes nothing. He still dies in the end anyway." Horace shrugged

Before Arche could reply the ground below them lit up with purple runes as a spell activated. In a flash of light Arche found herself standing in an old abandoned church along with the rest of the children. Some of the children immediately bolted out the door without a backwards a glance, others looked around hesitantly before walking out. He noticed that pale boy slowly dragged his feet out the door, his posture hunched and weary.

"We should get going." Horace said as he conjured his mask and bolted out the door vanishing from sight shortly followed by Anri.

Arche looked to Nico who nodded and they both ran out the door, Arche turned to look one last time at the small boy. She made a mental note to find him if possible and help him get something to tide him over.

The church was located on a large hill that gave a great view of the city. Arche looked out at the ruined city around them, most buildings were damaged or outright destroyed. Surrounding the city was a massive wall of purple flame, forming a prison for the forsaken. Curiously the building were all slanted away from the church giving the impression as if the hill which the church sat on was pulled up by an invisible hand causing the earth to shift. Arche nodded at Nico as they both leapt onto one of the rooftops, looking down she saw the streets were cracked and warped as if the earth has shifted below the cobble stones.

They continued to move jumping from rooftop to rooftop. It wasn't long before they came across a hollow in a plaza, it had a bestial frame. It looked like a bone plated wolf, it's body seemed emancipated with just enough flesh to stop the whole body from collapsing.

"There's one…" Arche said quietly

"Yea I think we can take that one." Nico replied

"Ok I'll go in first then you jump in when the time is right." Arche said as she hefted her staff

Arche leapt down into the plaza and conjured her tentacles, she used them to propel herself right above the hollow. She raised her staff and channeled her abyss powers into the staff creating a black scythe. She swung it down at the hollow, predictably it dodged off to the side. Arche charged the hollow and brought her tentacle blades up in a downward slash to both sides the hollow trapping it. The hollow now pinned decided to pounce on her, Arche brought her scythe in an upward swing and impaled the hollow in the chest mid air, once she had the scythe firmly inside the hollow she willed her blades to pierce the hollow from both sides. The hollow let out one last weak howl before going limp.

"Leave some for me why don't you." Nico said jokingly as he landed beside her

"Sorry I didn't expect it to be this weak, I half expected it to regenerate." Arche said sheepishly

"Weak hollows like this can't really survive wounds like that." Nico replied

"So you want to have the first one?" Arche asked

"No after you my lady, first blood goes to you." Nico replied with an exaggerated bow

"Thanks." Arche said with a roll of her eyes at his theatrics

Arche approached the dead hollow and heard the voices in her head.

_At last a meal…_

Arche found she knew instinctively what to do, she put her hand on the corpse and saw the black essence flow into her veins through her skin. Her veins were dyed black as the abyss traveled through her blood and she felt a small amount of energy flow into her. When the flow ceased she saw the body turn grey and crumbled into ash. So that's what all this ash was… she thought as she looked around the plaza and saw almost everything was covered in a layer of ash. She thought back to how every inch of this city seemed to be covered in ash and shuddered as she imagined how many lost souls met their end in this cold dark world.

"I don't feel any different…" Arche said

"Well I suppose a steak won't feed a lion." Nico said with a shrug

"So I guess we need more of these or bigger prey." Arche said

"Sounds about right, lets go." Nico said

Arche stood back up and the pair leapt back onto the roof of a building. For the next few hours they scoured the Ringed City picking off any hollows they came across. Finally they found something strange, it was kneeling figure wearing black armor and bone mask with a cross shaped hole in the centre. The figure was massive from where she stood she estimated it was 3 metres tall while kneeling. It knelt within the ruins of some large building, the walls and roof was gone leaving only half collapsed walls. What unsettled her was the amount of ash around the figure, it looked to her like a layer of sand.

"That looks ominous." Nico said

"Yea but I think we should get a better look, we aren't gonna beat the trials by going for small fry." Arche replied

"Alright then, let's do this." Nico said

The pair jumped into the ruins, when they landed they kicked up a small cloud of ash. Arche looked down and saw the ash came up to her ankles, she wondered how many hollows and children met their end here. She eyed the kneeling hollow knight warily, expecting it to come to life and attack them. Arche and Nico tensed as they waited but a minute passed and nothing happened. Arche turned and gave Nico a dubious look.

"Maybe he's sleeping?" Nico said

"Do hollows even sleep?" Arche asked

"I don't think so but this guy looks like he is." Nico said as he gestured at the hollow knight

"Look at that." Arche said as she gestured to the ground next to the hollow knight's left hand.

There was a halberd half buried in the ash, it was ridiculously long easily twice as tall as she was. She hadn't noticed it at first as it was half buried but now she could barely make out the ornate carvings on the halberd.

"Thats a big halberd…" Nico said uneasily

"Yea if we are gonna fight this we need to get close." Arche replied grimly

"Somehow getting close to that doesn't appeal to me." Nico said

"Should we leave?" Arche asked

"No, we need to make you stronger, if we are too weak the trials will eat us alive." Nico said with a shake of his head.

"Ok, I'll get the first hit in. Hopefully he sits still and I can get a free hit." Arche said

Arche grasped her staff with both hands and charged the hollow knight, she got within 5 metres of the knight when she saw the head jerk up and face her. She saw the hand dig into the ash and grasped the halberd. Instinctively she used her right tentacles to grab onto the ground and yanked herself to the side. It was a close call too as she heard the whistle of the halberd fly past her left ear. She felt a crash behind her as the halberd strike the ground kicking up a huge cloud of ash. Arche thinking such a long weapon would be unwieldy in close quarters combat so she raised her staff intent on landing a hit on the knight.

Arche expected the knight to create some distance due to it's long weapon so she used her tentacles to leap up so she could get a hit on its neck while it retreated. Instead she saw the knight charge her and the knight gave her a shoulder bash straight to the face. Arche felt her nose crumple and half the teeth in her mouth were reduced to powder. Then she saw the knight combo his attack with a kick to her chest shattering every rib she had. Arche flew back and slammed into one of the ruined walls knocking it over. She staggered to her feet, head still spinning from the damage she sustained, she looked up to see the knight leaping into air halberd raised intent on smashing her into paste.

Nico dashed off towards Arche the moment he saw her get kicked, he saw her stagger to her feet amongst the cloud of ash. He heard a sound and turned to see the knight has leapt up and was hurtling towards her. Nico sped up and slammed into Arche from the side knocking them both out of the way as the very lethal halberd carved a wedge into the ground.

Arche shoved Nico off and leapt to her feet, she saw the knight had raised it's halberd and was preparing to deliver a horizontal swing. Arche raised her staff and used her two tentacle blades in attempt to parry the strike. What she got for her attempt was pair of shattered blades and broken wrists. Arche immediately back pedaled and grabbed her staff off the ground and regrouped with Nico.

_I will not let you hurt her…_

A hoarse voice echoed from behind the mask. Arche was surprised, she didn't know that hollows could talk. This must be some of the vestiges that Horace was talking about it.

_No one will hurt her ever again…_

The hollow growled as it hefted it's halberd and took a stance. This was not some wild beast, it's form and attacks spoke of experience. Somewhere inside that suit of armor was a veteran warrior. To Arche that was fine, she had been fighting an experience warrior for the past few weeks. Now it was time to see if she could put what she learned to use. Arche turned her face to side and spat out a mouthful of teeth.

"Nico see if you can get a hit in, don't take any unnecessary risks." Arche said

"Got it." Nico replied

Arche raised her staff and conjured a scythe and charged the hollow knight once again. The hollow knight let out an earth shaking roar as it hefted it's halberd and took a swing at her. Arche leapt up over the hollow knight's head, she sailed over and delivered spinning slash to it's back on her way down. She saw it's back let out a spray of black blood as her scythe cleaved right through it's armor. The wound stopped bleeding almost immediately, it looked to her like a rather shallow wound. Essentially purely superficial damage, deciding to try something different Arche changed the scythe into a Burn Lance. The hollow knight turned and swung at her again with a low sweep forcing her to jump up out of the way. She felt the hollow knight's hand grab her right leg mid air, immediately the blades moved on their own and severed her leg before transforming into tentacles. Seizing the moment Arche swung her flaming lance at the hollow knight's wrist but she felt it bounce off doing no damage. The tentacles acting as legs and leapt her back into safety.

_Close one girl, don't get grabbed again_

The voices said in her head, Arche sent a mental note of thanks as she looked at her leg as it reformed.

_It's just limbs they grow back_

The voices said with a laugh, Arche let out a smirk of her own as she fell back onto the ground her leg now fully formed. She looked back down at her Burn Lance, so it seems conventional magic doesn't work against that armor. However she had a suspicion, the laws of magic were quite simple. Fire is weak against fire as they share mutual resistances, her black scythe was of the abyss and it seems that armor was made of the abyss but not of a higher density as her scythe which was why she was able to cut through. The armor might also possess more fire resistance which is why her burn lance did nothing. Although she did feel a lot of resistance once her scythe cut into the black flesh under that armor. So perhaps she could cut through the armor with the black scythe because abyss is highly effective against non abyss matter… but if the body has a similar abyss density her scythe won't work. What could work was a burn lance exploding deep inside the body, she could turn that armor into an oven.

That plan was good and all but she needed to slow this hollow down first, there was no way she would be able to pull this off with the hollow being as fast as it is. The hollow was ignoring Nico, clearly it felt she was the main threat. Nico so far couldn't get a hit in, the pace of combat was simply too fast, not only that halberd had an absurdly long reach there was no way Nico could dodge out of it in time.

"Nico I'm gonna try to pin this guy down, use the opening to get his knees or ankles." Arche said

"Ok don't do anything too crazy." Nico replied

"You too." Arche said

Arche ran off to the side circling the hollow making it face her instead of Nico. This time she fired off a [Fireball] at it, consuming it in a wave of fire. She heard the hollow roar within the smoke cloud and she saw it charge out halberd raised. Now that it had taken the bait Arche dodged off to the side as the halberd smashed down onto where she was a moment ago. She jumped right onto his chest and buried her scythe into his chest plate. As she did so she felt the scythe go right through the armor but was stopped cold at the flesh underneath. She saw the hollow reach out to grab her, expecting this Arche used her tentacles to form a shield around her right before the fist could close around her.

Nico saw the hollow and Arche struggling against each other and knew this was the opening. He ran up behind the hollow and activated his skill, [Dark Pierce] his sword glowed with purple light as he stabbed at the back of it's knees with all his strength. To Nico the back of that knee felt like wall of bricks but he knew if he did not succeed it might be the end for both of them. So he poured every bit of strength into his strike and he felt the blade sink into the stone like flesh. Once he was in he realised he overdid it and found he couldn't extract his sword. In that split second he decided to gamble he twisted the sword locking it in place within the joint and jumped back.

Arche felt the hollow stumble and heard it roar in pain. Knowing Nico had succeeded Arche immediately extracted herself from the hollow and leapt back. She saw Nico bolt off to the side empty handed. She looked down and saw the blade jammed firmly into the back of the hollows knee. Arche saw the hollow reach down to grab it's knee in pain, now she knew this was her chance to finish it.

Arche charged forward once again intent on delivering the coup de grace, she used her tentacles to grab onto it's chest. She slashed hard at it's chest plate with her scythe opening a gaping gash in it's armor. She twirled her staff and conjured a [Burn Lance], Arche saw the hand reaching for her. However, all she saw was her imminent victory, heedless to the danger she thrust her lance deep into its chest and found it sank in much easier. She released the spell causing the lance to explode in it's chest. The explosion threw her back and she tumbled across the ground singed from head to toe. Arche looked up to see fire and smoke leaking out of the gaps in the armor as the hollow was trapped in the burning armor. The hollow shrieked and screamed as it clawed at it's armor. Arche stood up smugly as she watched it burn, in her mind this fight was decided.

The hollow then staggered to its knees and collapsed onto all fours. It struggled mightily against the flames consuming it, not taking any chances Arche leapt onto it's back and jammed another burn lance into the hole made by her previous attack. She released her spell, this time the flames were blasted out the front of the armor as the fire swept across the floor below her forming a sea of fire below her. The hollow roared one last time before finally crashing into the ground.

Arche hopped off the hollow onto the still smoking ground, for a moment there was silence as the pair reveled in the fact that they had taken down such a worthy foe.

"Well that was intense." Nico deadpanned

"Yea… yea it was…" Arche said still a bit stunned

"Well I should probably take my sword back." Nico said as he walked over and pried his sword free

"Well I suppose I should eat him." Arche said as she walked over to the burnt corpse

Arche placed her hand on the armor and as before tried to absorb its essence. She felt a sudden searing pain at her hand touching the armor. She saw a vision of teenage boy in her mind, he wore a weary and broken expression on his face.

Arche snapped back to reality and to her horror she felt the body stir. She looked down to see purple flames burst forth from the gaps within the armor. The limp body tensed as it grasped the ground and rose. She heard a voice rumble out from within the armor.

_I will not rest…_

Arche jumped back and watched as the hollow rose once again now wreathed in purple flame. The hollow grasped the halberd once again and staggered to its feet. Arche looked on slack jawed as the hollow seemed to grow in power as it was steadily consumed by the flames. She saw it raise its halberd and swung down at her. She dodged off the right and felt a searing heat behind her. She turned to see an inferno devouring the spot where she was previously.

"Arche I think we should run…" Nico said his voice wavering

"Yeah lets get out of here." Arche affirmed as the pair turned and began to run

The pair took two steps before wall of fire erupted before them, they turned to see they were now surrounded by a wall of fire. Arche felt her blood run cold as she realised they were now trapped. The hollow charged her halberd raised and took another swing at her, Arche dodged out of the way without issue but the secondary explosion of fire seared the skin off her back.

_Girl, I don't think he can keep this up for long_

_Just focus on surviving_

The voices said. Arche paused at those words, she looked at the hollow and noticed that it was indeed staggering about. Previously it showed the form of a skilled warrior, now it looked like mad berserker. It was staggering around swinging it's halberd like a club, Arche dodged another downward swing. The hollow having missed the swing, dragged the halberd across the ground and let out a wild horizontal swing. Arche dodged that easily as well, she noticed the hollow actually used the flat of the blade forgoing all pretenses of edge alignment.

"Nico hide." Arche said

Arche watched as Nico darted off to the side, now seeing he was as safe as he was gonna be in this fiery prison. Arche let off a [Frost Lance] at the hollow, the spell did no significant damage all it did was enrage the hollow further. Now that she had the hollows undivided attention she could focus on surviving.

For the next hour Arche ducked and weaved around the attacks, more than once she was clipped by the secondary fire explosions. She silently thanked fate for granting her such powerful regenerative abilities. Finally she saw the hollow fall to its knees, it's fire starting to burn out. She allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief as the hollow collapsed under the weight of its own power.

_Not here…_

_Not now…_

She heard the hollow rasp, she watched shocked as the hollow grasped the halberd and thrust it into its own abdomen. Then she felt the air grow heavy as the ground began to shake, she could see the body begin to glow as the armor cracked.

_No! Girl you must devour him now!_

_He is trying to destroy himself!_

_The blast will kill us!_

The voices shouted in her head, Arche felt a chill go up her spine as she heard those words. She panicked and bolted straight at the hollow, running as fast as she could.

"Will this work?" Arche said mentally to the voices

_Trust us girl_

_You die, We die_

Arche grit her teeth in frustration as she used her tentacle to carry her ever faster. When she arrived at the hunched over hollow, she could feel the heat radiating off the armor. She reached out to touch the armor and immediately drew her hand back as she felt the searing heat scald her hand. She looked down at her hand and saw the flesh and melted off her palm exposing the bone.

_We'll do it together_

The voice said, as the tentacles wrapped around her right hand and formed a black claw. Arche once again reached out and touched the armor. The burn was still there but much more manageable. She tried to draw the power within the hollow into herself, the moment she did she felt reality fall away around her.

Arche looked around and saw an empty dark world, the world was only lit by ethereal blue lanterns that hovered overhead. She stood on a platform of simple cobblestone similar to the ones that dotted the streets of most cities. Then she heard a voice…

_Gundyr what will do when you get out?_

Arche looked around trying to find the source of the voice, then she saw a glow of light to the side of the platform , revealing a set of stone statues. They showed a scene of a teenage boy and girl sitting together on the steps of the Ashen Shrine.

_I don't know, we should focus on getting out first shouldn't we?_

_It's ok to dream you know, dreams keep us going in dark times._

_Yea I suppose you're right…_

Arche listened as the conversation played out before her, seemingly coming from the stone statues. Then the statues crumbled to ash before her eyes, she heard the sound of stone shifting and she saw a path of cobblestone had formed a bridge leading to another stone platform. Arche walked over to the new platform and again she heard voices.

_Your amazing Gundyr!_

Arche heard the female voice say, she turned to see another set of statues. This time she recognised it as the Ebony Plate, the pair of figures standing before the plate as the Shrine Maiden stood at the side.

_The Blackiron Halberd, it shall serve you well child_

Arche saw the boy holding the long halberd, it looked almost comical to her. It was so long compared to the boys frame, easily being twice as tall as he is.

_Well that's a relief, I was worried I was gonna get something weak_

Arche heard the boys voice said with a laugh. Once again the scene crumbled before her eyes and another platform appeared. Again Arche made her way to the next platform, it seemed to her these were memories of the boy that was once the hollow.

_Nice halberd Gundyr._

Arche stopped cold when she heard that voice, she recognised that voice. It was Maeve's voice, she turned to see three stone statues once again on the steps of the Ashen Shrine. She recognised the short figure of Maeve seated next to the pair.

_Thanks, I hope this will help us get out of here_

_You do know the trials have to be undertaken alone right?_

_Well I just have to help Mirrah get out before I do then_

_I would try to persuade you on how stupid that idea is but I think I'll just be wasting my breath_

_Haha, nothing worth doing has ever been easy Maeve_

__Arche watched as the scene crumbled once again. Was Gundyr a child that Maeve tried to guide? Arche wondered to herself as she walked down the bridge, oddly Maeve sounded happier then. Her voice was higher, not at all the grim tone she used now. Even that rebuke from her had undertones of a joke under it.

_Do you wish to attempt the trials child?_

Arche saw the scene of Gundyr speaking to the Shrine Maiden

_No, I will wait for Mirrah to get out first_

_As you wish_

_Gundyr I'll be fine, this is the fourth time you've turned down the trial_

_I'm not leaving until you get out_

Once again the scene crumbled away into the darkness. Again another platform appeared, this time the scene appeared first. It showed the Gundyr and the Mirrah sitting together shoulder to shoulder on the steps, Mirrah was leaning her head on Gundyr's shoulder.

_Hey Gundyr, what do you want to do when you get out?_

_I want to build that house by the sea with you, the one you always wanted_

_Hehe, that's very sweet of you_

_I'm happy when you're happy_

_A house by the sea… warm sheets, the smell of the sea, the sand between our toes_

_We can go fishing, we can sunbathe, maybe start a little garden…_

_I never knew you liked gardening_

_Well I do like apples_

_I don't think apples can grow by the sea_

_Why not?_

_I heard the soil is too salty_

_Well that sucks…_

_Hehe, we'll figure it out_

_Yeah, we'll figure it out together_

_You know Gundyr, I'm really glad I came here, I'm glad I got the chance to meet you_

_Me too…_

Arche watched as the scene crumbled before her eyes. She heard the new bridge form but she didn't move a muscle. So this hollow once loved another girl in the ashen shrine, well she already knew the end of the story. Arche had a suspicion why Gundyr turned hollow, she didn't like the thought…

Arche walked over to the last platform, when she stepped onto the platform she heard a splashing sound. She looked down to see the platform was covered in a layer of murky water.

_Mirrah run!_

Arche looked to see Gundyr standing in front of Mirrah shielding her from some unknown threat. Then she heard an earth splitting crash behind her, Arche turned to see a large anchor and embedded into the ground, at the base of the anchor was a large hand clutching it like it was a mace.

_What about you?_

_I'll buy time for you to escape, NOW GO!_

_But…_

_GO!_

At those words the lamps turned red and started to flicker bathing the world in an ominous blood red hue. Then she caught sight of a giant silhouette connected to the hand that was holding the anchor. She couldn't see anything except for its frame and it's glowing red eyes.

_I will have vengeance…_

Rumbled a deep monstrous voice. Then the world began to shake and the water on the platform started to drain. She looked down to see the platform crumbling away, she turned to see the rest of the platforms crumbling away as well. When the ground finally collapsed below her feet, Arche plummeted down into the darkness. She then landed hard on a wooden floor, she groaned and got back to her feet and found herself in an old dusty house. She looked up and saw there was indeed a roof, how she fell through the roof, she had no idea.

_Hang in there Mirrah…_

Arche turned to see two stone statues, one of them was Gundyr. He was kneeling by a sofa on which lay Mirrah, the statue of Mirrah was missing a large chunk of her abdomen. The statue was leaking black ichor from the wound, the black fluid dripped down from the sofa forming a black puddle on the floor.

_Gundyr… I don't think… I don't think I'll make it back…_

_No don't say that, I'll get you back…_

_Gundyr…_

_Shhh just rest, we still need to build that house by the sea remember?_

_Build it for me Gundyr…_

_We'll build it together_

_Gundyr… take the trials and leave this place…_

_No, we are getting out together… just like we promised..._

_Hehe… I am so glad I met you…_

_I am glad I met you too_

_Gundyr, can you do something for me?_

_What?_

_Please devour me… then bury my ashes by the sea… I don't want to rest in this place..._

_No you're not going to die… you're not…_

_Promise me you'll take me away from here…_

_Mirrah no, please… _

_Promise me…_

_I… I can't…_

_Promise… me…_

_Mirrah! No no no no…_

_Gundyr… I lov… you…_

_Mirrah! MIRRAH!_

Arche listened as Gundyr howled like wounded beast. The house began to shake as the walls crumbled away, the roof collapsed and rubble rained down onto her. Arche held up her arms in an attempt to shield herself but felt nothing. She gingerly opened her eyes and looked around and found herself in the ruins of the house, she recognised the place as where she was fighting earlier. Infront of her stood Gundyr, he was not a statue now he was flesh and blood. Arche looked around she didn't see Nico and there was no ash on the floor. She was not back in reality yet it would seem.

"Hello, you have bested me." Gundyr said

"It was a tough fight." Arche replied

"There's supposed to be a fight now but… I just don't want to fight anymore…" Gundyr said wearily

"What happened to Mirrah?" Arche asked

"Let me show you." Gundyr said as he turned and began walking

Arche followed him through the ruins of the house until he came to pile of ruined furniture. She watched as he removed the pile of destroyed wood and revealed a trap door. He opened the door and went down, Arche followed him into the dark basement and was stunned to find a hollow bound to the wall with heavy rusted chains.

"You couldn't do it." Arche said softly

"How could I…" Gundyr said in a choked voice

"So what happens now?" Arche asked

"I will yield my power to you without a fight if you can promise me one thing." Gundyr said

"That is?" Arche asked

"Devour her and bury her ashes by the sea." Gundyr replied

"Ok consider it done, I think she deserved at least that much." Arche said sympathetically

"Thank you." Gundyr said

"You did the best you could." Arche said

"Thanks, it just wasn't good enough I suppose." Gundyr replied looking away

"I have one last question if you don't mind me asking." Arche said

"That is?" Gundyr asked

"How are you here? I thought your soul is consumed when you go hollow?" Arche asked

"I don't know I guess I just held on long enough for you to arrive… perhaps if you came later you would just meet a normal hollow." Gundyr said

"Well then I suppose you might still be able to keep your promise." Arche said

"Yes I guess in that respect I haven't failed completely." Gundyr said with a self deprecating smile

"You fought hard, now you can rest, I'll carry the torch the rest of the way." Arche said as she walked forward and placed her hand on his shoulder

"You have my eternal gratitude, may I know your name?" Gundyr said

"I am Arche Eeb Rile Furt." Arche said as she took her hand off his shoulder and held it out.

"I am Gundyr Iudex, a forgotten child of ash." Gundyr said as he took her hand

"No not forgotten, I will remember." Arche said firmly

"You are very kind Arche… now at last I rest…" Gundyr said as his body turned to ash and collapsed

Arche remained there and looked to her hand which now held a small pile of ash. The world began to shake and she could see this reality falling away out of the corner of her eye. She clenched her hand tightly and held the ash.

Arche snapped back to reality and gazed as the body before her started to crumble to ash before her. She felt a surge of power flood into her and she felt her magic power jump by leaps and bounds. Her body also felt stronger, much stronger.

_Well done girl…_

Arche didn't reply and instead looked at the pile of ash.

"Nico do you have a pouch or a bag or something?" Arche asked softly

"Huh, er yes?" Nico replied bewildered

"Can I have it?" Arche asked not taking her eyes off the pile of ash

"Sure…" Nico said unsettled by her sombre tone. Nico reached into his robes and pulled out a small tattered pouch.

Arche wordlessly took the pouch and scooped some of the ashes into it. Then in silence she walked over to where the trap door was. She looked at the spot, it was now covered in a thick layer of ash. Arche brushed away the ash revealing the trap door.

"Woa what's in there." Nico asked

"Something precious." Arche replied as she opened the rotting wood door

Arche descended into the basement and cast a spell [Continual Light], a ball of light lit up the darkness and revealed an emancipated hollow chained to the wall. The hollow twitched weakly and tried to attack them but it could only put up a feeble resistance against the chains.

"By the 41, what? What is that? How long has it been down here?" Nico asked aghast

"Too long…" Arche replied

"I hope you don't mean this… thing is the precious thing down here." Nico said

"Her name is Mirrah, she was… important to who that hollow was before he turned." Arche replied gently

"So what now?" Nico asked

"I have a promise to fulfill or at least start to fulfill." Arche said as she conjured her black blades and shot one straight through the hollows skull.

Arche approached the limp body and reached out absorbing the essence. The hollow crumbled to ash onto the cold stone. Arche took out the pouch and added some of the ashes to the pouch.

"Now you can be together." Arche said softly as she carefully stowed away the pouch.

"I'm confused." Nico said a strained expression on his face.

"How much time do we have left?" Arche asked

"About a day before we have to return." Nico replied

_Let's find somewhere to get some rest, I'll explain over dinner_

**Author's Notes:**

**Hey guys sorry this chapter took so long been quite busy recently, not sure if the next one will be on time but I it will be. There's about four more chapters left in this side arc, I may do a small filler chapter in Primordials to do a bit more world building in between these last few chapters.**

**So once again tell me what you think and see you guys in the next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

Arche opened her eyes and found herself back in her family home. She looked around and saw the familiar shapes of her family but there was one extra figure now. It looked to be a teenage boy, she noticed it vaguely resembles Gundyr but not exactly. His hair was longer and he seemed slimmer with a more feminine figure.

"Hello, are you Gundyr's hollow?" Arche said to the boy

"I don't know, I don't remember anything." the boy said, oddly Arche realised that his voice sounded like a male and female voice were speaking in unison. This gave his voice an almost ethereal quality, his tone was gentle with an undertone of wistfulness.

"He doesn't know anything, we already tried talking to him." her father said gruffly

"This is a very nice house…" the boy said

"You're really polite for a hollow." Arche said slightly perturbed.

"Am I?" the boy said

"Yes you are." Arche said privately happy this new hollow was much more reasonable than her original four

"Ah I see so I am a hollow." the boy said

"What? No, I meant you are very polite." Arche replied

"Oh so I am not a hollow?" the boy asked

"No, I mean yes… you are both a hollow AND polite." Arche replied eyebrow twitching

"Numbskull isn't he?" Kuurderika said with a cackle

"I don't feel numb." the boy replied

"I… you... ok, well anyway, welcome to... me? So there's this arrangement here, you lend me your power and I feed you. You understand?" Arche said getting more and more exasperated

"Oh you mean this?" the boy said as a black flame appeared in the palm of his hand

"Well that's new." Arche deadpanned

"Yes I haven't shown it to you yet." the boy said

"Abyss Fyre, it should allow us to fire it out as a wave attack and enchant our strikes." her mother said ignoring the boy

"Ok that's useful, great… now I should be going I'll drop by again… later." Arche said as she let out an internal sigh.

"See you around girl." her father said

Arche returned to reality and found herself right where she left off. There was not a small campfire that danced with purple flame in front of her. She looked to the side and saw Nico trying to roast some of that black weed over the fire. Horace was sitting to the side nursing a wound on his unarmored arm. Anri was holding a stick in each hand trying to roast some more black weed.

Arche and Nico had returned to the church once they had finished up at the ruined house, they were one of the last few to return. Some of course did not return, the boy who was succumbing was not back either. Arche assumed he didn't make it, after fighting Gundyr she realised Horace was right. She really didn't have the resources to spend on helping others, if these were the level of opponents she was expected to devour to be strong enough to take the trials she really needed to up her game. She had one more hunt after this, so she knew she at least needed to get three more strong hollows before she was ready. The hunts lasted two days so one strong one per day, that was the minimum.

"How you holding up Arche?" Nico asked once he realised she was back

"I'm fine, the new hollow is weird." Arche replied

"How so?" Nico asked

"Well he's really clueless, it's like he was born yesterday." Arche said with a sigh

"I heard you two got the Halberd Knight." Horace said

"You know him?" Arche asked

"Yea I knew him before he turned, Gundyr was his name, damned fool…" Horace said bitterly

"What was he like?" Arche asked

"Naive, stupid, always had this girl following him around like a little lost duckling. What was her name Mary, Maria…" Horace said

"Mirrah." Arche said

"Yeah, that's it, he said he wanted to get her out of this place. As if someone as weak as her would even stand a chance." Horace snorted

"It's good to have dreams, you know?" Nico said reproachfully

"Stop, now you're sounding like her. The only way she was getting out was if Lord Momonga came down himself to pluck her out of here." Horace said dismissively

"That's not nice Horace…" Anri said

"Oh shut it Anri, that stupid girl got Gundyr killed you know it and I know it. He could have left but he wasted his chance on her." Horace said

"Well at least in some twisted way, she did help us." Nico said glumly as he turned the stick in his hand over and over

"What?" Arche asked

"Well if she never existed Gundyr wouldn't have stayed behind, which means Arche would never get the chance to defeat him. So in a way Horace, she helped you more than most people in the ashen shrine." Nico said

"Ha that's an interesting way to put it, fine I'll give you that one Nico. Thank the 41 for Mirrah." Horace said as he cackled

"So what powers did you get from him?" Anri asked

"Oh I got this." Arche said

Arche conjured her mask and picked up her staff. She summoned her black scythe and added the abyss fyre enchantment to it, wreathing it in black flames.

"That's pretty." Anri said

"Is it?" Arche asked bewildered the flames looked more ominous than pretty to her.

"Not your staff Arche your mask, it changed." Nico said as he took out his sword and showed Arche her reflection.

Arche touched the mask as she gazed at the new sight, the mask was previously a pair of wings forming a simple eye mask. Now her eyes and crown were covered by a sheet of layered bone, the bone went over the top of her head until it reached the back of her neck. The plate had a hexagon patterns like that of insect compound eyes. Two long black feathers extended from the forehead giving it the appearance of feelers. The wings were now at the sides of her head extending until it covered her ear. The colour has also changed, it was now in colours of red and black giving it a far more ominous appearance. Looks aside, she noticed her head was now much more covered and protected.

"It looks… ominous…" Arche said

"Well Gundyr must have been a fat morsel for your mask to grow as much as it did." Horace said

"Well then we need to get a few more don't we." Arche said

"That's the spirit." Horace said with a grin

"Speaking of that how did you get injured?" Arche asked

"Oh this? I have been stalking this prey for awhile, it's an old wolf hollow. Problem is it's fast and it fires spines and the spines can pierce my armor." Horace said with a grimace

"How about I join you tomorrow, we take it down together then I move on. I've been wanting to try out my new powers anyway." Arche said

"Hmmm ok fine, just don't slow me down." Horace said

"Yea yea whatever you say Horace." Arche said with a roll of her eyes

**The Next Day**

Arche stood atop a rooftop beside the other three and looked down into a grimy pit in the ruins of a large house. Inside the pit was a large wolf covered in bone plate, if had multiple spikes jutting out from it's hide and a long spined tipped tail.

"Is that it?" Arche asked

"Yep, let's waste this mutt." Horace said

Arche leapt down into the pit and conjured her black burning scythe, she ran straight at the hollow scythe raised. The hollow roared and pounced forward, Arche didn't hesitate she swung her scythe diagonally upwards from right to left. She buried her scythe right into the hollows abdomen, there was a burst of black flames that erupted from the other side of the hollow as her power tore right through its body. Arche lifted the hollow up using her scythe and slammed it down back onto the ground, the hollow now on it's back with the black scythe buried in its belly flailed and howled as it tried to escape.

Nico watched from above as Arche viciously ripped her scythe out of the hollows belly. The scythe bathed in flame let out a wave of fire behind her as the scythe was drawn back behind her. It was amazing how powerful you could become if you managed to devour the right hollows. Sensing the fight was done, Nico jumped down along with Anri.

"Show off." Horace grumbled as he watched the flashy display

"What? You want the hollow or not?" Arche retorted her hands on her hips

"Yea, yea." Horace said as he walked over and devoured the hollow.

Arche watched as Horace devoured the hollow, the change was… minimal to say the least. The only thing that changed was a slight growth of bone armor on his left arm. No wonder he was stuck here for so long…

"So what now?" Nico asked

"Do we split up again?" Arche asked

"Hmm, there is something I want to check out, there's this place nearby. It's called the Drowned Piazza, it's what we would call a dead zone." Horace said as he cupped his chin

"Dead zone? That sounds ominous." Arche said with a frown

"It is… I hope you aren't suggesting we actually go to one?" Nico said with a frown

"Ok what is a dead zone?" Arche asked impatiently

"It's a place where most of the time when a child of ash enters they don't come out." Horace replied

"Ok I assume that's because of powerful hollows?" Arche said

"Yes there's one nearby… but this one is different. We can actually look into the dead zone without entering it." Horace said

"So you want us to go have a look and make me decide if we can beat it together." Arche said

"Yes exactly, all and I mean ALL of the children who passed the trials have cleared out dead zones at some point. They always become ridiculously stronger after they return, better physical abilities, new abyss powers, better mental fortitude, you name it they got better at it." Horace explained

"Gundyr cleared out one himself, the Herald cleared out twelve." Anri added

"Ok so it's basically a requirement I guess." Arche said

"Yeah so I suggest we go have a look, if we ever want to get out of here we will need to do this eventually." Horace stated

"Alright fine, lead on." Arche said with a sigh

The group followed Horace as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop until they arrived at large plaza. The plaza was sunken inwards and was filled with grey murky water, in the centre was wrecked mass of rotting wood. There was no hollow in sight, just an expanse of grey filthy water. Then they heard the sound of splashing down below. The group looked down to see it was the weak boy from before chasing after all a small child sized hollow.

"I didn't know hollows ran from us…" Nico muttered

"This might be one at the very bottom of the food chain." Horace said with a frown

"Wait, he's gonna run in there." Arche said

"Good maybe he can show us what exactly is in this place." Horace replied

"You're gonna use him as bait?" Arche replied

"Look at him he can't even catch that slow hollow, you think he's gonna make it?" Horace shot back

"That doesn't mean can just watch him die." Arche retorted hotly

"Erm guys…" Nico said

Arche and Horace turned to see that the boy had already entered the Plaza, that wasn't the problem. For some reason he seems to have tripped and was now on all fours in the filthy water. That wasn't the problem, the problem was dozens of the small hollows were emerging from the mass of rotting wood and were surrounding the boy. The hollows hissed as they made a circle around the boy, Arche could see the boy shaking as he pointed the trembling tip of his sword at the horde of hollows.

"I can't watch this." Arche said through gritted teeth. She conjured her mask and leapt down into the plaza.

"Wait! You IDIOT!" Horace shouted after her

Arche heedless to his words jumped down into the plaza and raised her staff before releasing a wave of black fire at the group hollows. The flames incinerated the group caught inside and she ran into the encirclement. She grabbed the boy before leaping back out of the circle of hollows. Arche felt a hand grab her shoulder, she turned to see a livid Horace glaring at her.

"What the hell are you doing! We need to get out of…" Horace shouted

Then there was a tremor as ripple radiated across the water, there was a cacophony of noise as the hollows all turned and fled. They scurried into the surrounding building taking shelter in the ruined buildings. Arche could see the red eyes peering out of the windows and doorways of the buildings.

"Arche we need to go now." Nico said shakily from behind her

Arche didn't answer and looked around the plaza, something definitely felt wrong. She suddenly heard a crash and turned to see a large slab of metal flying towards her, she felt someone pull her to the side out of the way. She felt the shockwave blast her back and she tumbled and rolled along the floor. A stunned and soaked Arche lay in the muck, she raised her head and saw the boys blade land half a metre in front of her with a splash. She looked up stunned to see an anchor lying on the ground where she was just a few moments before. The anchor was made of an unknown black metal, the anchor had a long chain connected to the back. The chain led into the mass of rotted wood, the boy was now just a mass of pulped flesh scattered around staining the grey water red.

"Arche…" Nico said from behind her

"Yea I know, RUN!" Arche shouted as they scrambled to their feet and made a beeline for one of the streets leading out of the plaza.

They barely got five metres away when the water in the plaza suddenly flowed past them towards the exit a formed a wall of water barring their way.

"What is that…" Horace said as he looked up at the wall of water

Arche turned to see Horace and Anri standing a few metres away, they had been blasted away in the opposite direction when the anchor landed. Arche looked back to the wall of water and notice it was glowing an ominous sickly green.

"I don't think we are getting past that…" Anri said

"Why does it always have to wall of something trapping us in…" Nico whimpered

"How did you think these hollows got so big? Every predator needs a way to trap their prey." Horace said grimly

Arche turned back to see the water had all but drained from the plaza, she looked to see the floor was strewn with old and damaged weapons. Most likely these were left behind from whatever killed them.

Right on cue Arche heard a creaking of wood and she looked up to see the mass of wood was now collapsing into a hole in the centre of the plaza. As the wood disappeared from view she could see the chain leading into the pit. Then a pillar of grey water erupted out of the pit and flooded the plaza again. The four were slightly knocked back by the wave of water, they looked down and saw that while previously the water was up to their ankles it was now up to their knees. The pillar of water continued fountaining out of the pit, oddly the water didn't rise any further.

Arche suddenly heard this pining sound emanating from the pillar, with each ping a green glow flashed from within the water. She then heard the sound of chains being pulled, she turned to see the anchor now being pulled back into the pillar of water. She heard the sound of something heavy hitting the ground and saw a massive foot step out of the pillar of water. From the pillar of water emerged a giant, it towered over 10 metres tall and was covered from head to toe in grey algae riddled bone armor. Purple crystals grew on its hide like a mass of barnacles, within its head was a pair of glowing red eyes that flickered like red flame. Over it's right shoulder was a compartment, the chain connected to anchor led into the darkness within. When the anchor reached the giant, it's massive hand grasped it and hefted it over it's shoulder.

"An anchor? Really?" Nico whimpered

"Maeve killed twelve of these things?" Horace said softly

Arche was silent but not out of fear, she recognised this giant… it was the one in Gundyr's memories. Arche had a bad feeling that history was about to repeat itself…

"I think that's the one that killed Mirrah…" Arche said softly

"Oh so Gundyr lost to this guy? That's great news." Horace said sarcastically

"I don't think we have much of a choice but to fight." Anri said

"I swear, if we survive this I'm gonna kill you Arche!" Horace shouted

"If we survive…" Nico replied

"We're going to make it, all of us." Arche said

"Here it comes…" Anri said

Arche watched as the giant raised it anchor threw it at them, the group scattered as the massive anchor flew at them. Once again there was a shockwave when the anchor landed, the concussive force was immense. Arche found herself blown off her feet once again, this time however, she was ready. She used her tentacles to grapple onto the ground and stabilised herself. She shot herself towards the giant, out of the corner of her eye she could see the chains being retracted back. Arche knew she had to get to the giant before it got it's weapon back, she spurred herself faster as she bolted towards the giant.

The giant turned its gaze to Arche, it raised its feet and stomped into the ground with a loud crash. A wave of force emanated from the stomp kicking up the water and weapons on the ground. A hail of weapons flew at Arche being pushed on by the wave, Arche formed a shield in front of her and used her tentacles to brace herself into the floor. The wave utterly destroyed her shield and force of the blow knocked her back, the tentacles that were gripping floor were blown lose as the floor gave way. Arche felt bones fracture and organs rupture, she felt her tentacles move on their own as they grabbed on to the ground stabilising her, then she saw a wall of black fire fire up in front of her blasting back the stray flying weapons.

_Take it nice and slow girl…_

_That was close..._

Arche heard the voices say, she sent a mental note of thanks as she shakily stood back on her own two feet. She turned to look at the other three and saw the were huddled behind a barrier created by Anri. The barrier was cracked and damaged but it managed to hold up against the blast. Arche ran and rejoined the group falling back behind Anri's barrier, she looked to see the giant was already placing the anchor back on it's shoulder.

"I can't get close to it alone." Arche said

"Yeah, no kidding, that blast was crazy." Horace replied

"We could move close together, get Arche close enough to land a few hits." Nico suggested

"I can try to be a distraction, I think my armor can handle a few hits." Horace said

"Ok but try not to get hurt too badly." Arche said

"It's doing something…" Anri said

The group looked up and saw the giant raising it's anchor by the end and slammed it into the ground. Immediately behind it the pillar of water shot up higher and a swarm of green water projectiles shot out and homed in on the group.

_I can help with that get us closer…_

Arche heard the voice of the boy and deciding to trust him leapt forward in front of the group. She felt a thought entered her mind through some unknown connection and she knew what she had to do. She slammed the base of her staff into the ground and channeled her abyss powers, she watched as a wall of black fire erupted in front of her. She felt her mana draining away as she held the staff down but she also heard the sounds of the water projectiles boiling away as they struck the fire wall.

The giant roared in rage as it's attack was deflected, she heard the sound of the chains and from the side she saw the anchor swinging towards her. Arche leapt up to avoid the anchor but to her shock the anchor suddenly changed direction and hurtled towards her. In a moment of desperation she used her staff and blades to strike the anchor at an angle. She managed to knock herself away from the path of the anchor but the shock of striking the anchor rippled up her arm fracturing bones and tearing tendons.

Arche rolled along the ground and staggered to her feet, then she saw a giant boot slam down a metre in front of her. Arche froze as she looked up and saw the giant towering over her, it bent down and locked it's infernal hate filled gaze at her form.

_You, you watched me drown…_

_You left me to die…_

_I will have vengeance..._

The giant rumbled in a voice that sounded like a drowning man screaming beneath the waves.

_You watched…_

_AND DID NOTHING_

The giant roared as it hefted its anchor and slammed it into the ground once more in rage, Arche felt the air grow heavy and uncompromising weight fell upon her shoulders.

_Feel the oceans weight_

_Feel the weight of the abyss_

The giant rumbled as it reached down and grasped Arche in it's massive arm. Arche screamed and thrashed as she felt her bones snapping and her ribs cracking. She vomited out a mouthful of blood as she was crushed.

Arche felt a presence invade her very being as she her power being drained away. She could feel the presences in her mind panicking, a cold hateful presence entered her mind as it devoured her from within. Then she felt something change in one of her hollows, the boy who last felt calm and tranquil now boiled over with a rage. Her body felt hot and she opened to see her body had burst into black flame.

_It was you…_

_Don't screw with me…_

Hissed the voice of the boy his tone dripping with venom

Arche felt reality fall away as the hand grasping her vanished and she found herself at the base of a massive door. The world looked murky and as she tried to move, she found her body felt heavy. It was then she realised she was underwater, she gasped out in surprise and surprisingly found she could breathe.

Arche looked around and found she was in a closed room with the only exit being the door, the walls were overgrown with seaweed and the general impression of the room was one of decay. With no other recourse, Arche pushed at the doors and found they opened easily. The doors opened to reveal an underwater hellscape. The door leads to a wide circular room, scattered around the room were drowned corpses, they were everywhere from resting on the floor to floating listlessly high above. In the centre of the room was the same anchor that the giant hollow was swinging around earlier. It was upright and tilted slightly to the side on the arms of the anchor sat a lone figure.

The figure had a bald head and was wearing a dark green coak, the cloak was tattered mess of rotting fabric. There were black chains tied around its body and around its neck was a necklace of human teeth. As Arche approached the figure raised it's head and revealed murky white eyes.

"Another lost lamb come to play." the figure said as he drew out a harpoon from behind him. The harpoon was made of some sort of bone and it had insidious hooks to snare any poor soul unfortunate enough to get skewered by it.

"Who are you." Arche asked cautiously

"Me? I don't know, my name doesn't matter what matters is… wait I remember your face…" the figure said as it pointed it's harpoon at Arche

Arche unconsciously took a step back and formed her black blades behind her. Arche was pleasantly surprised she was able to use her powers in this reality. This way at least she has some way of defending herself.

"You were there, you left me to die, left me to drown." the figure hissed as it took another step closer

"I've never seen you before in my life." Arche replied as she readied her black blades

"No, you lie. The voices said so... you left me to die." the figure said as it clutched its head

Arche remained silent and quietly tried to see if she could sense her inner hollows. Unfortunately her calls into her mind were met with silence. It seemed she was alone in here, well if she was alone in theory so would this ominous figure.

"You will die like all the others, march towards vengeance... the voices demand it…" the figure rasped

The figure howled like a mad dog and hurled it's harpoon at Arche, she dodged out of the path of the harpoon but sensed something was wrong. She turned to see the harpoon changed direction and shot back towards her. Arche used her blades to parry the harpoon's strike and managed to knock it off course. Arche turned and charged towards the figure, if the harpoon was just gonna keep chasing her she needed to start attacking. The water made movement difficult, it was jarring how she seemed to float for a moment before touching the floor again. Arche knew how to swim but she wasn't a very good swimmer considering she lived in Arwintar for most of her life.

Arche could sense the harpoon approaching again, she turned and parried it off course once again. She turned back and looked back to the figure, it was clutching it's head as if it were in agony.

"They will pay, they all will…" the figure muttered to itself

Arche was almost close enough, she continued to move forward at a glacial pace. It was frustrating in the extreme to her, she was so used to being quick on her feet that being as slow as she was now made her feel like a bottle of molasses. She tried to use her tentacles to propel herself forward but found she lost momentum too quickly.

When she finally got within striking distance she let off a maximum distance stab with one of her blades. To her surprise he didn't evade he merely took the blade straight through the chest. She turned and saw the harpoon drift listlessly back to the ground. The figure started to gag as air bubbles started to leak out from his lips. Soon he joined the rest of the corpses around, blue and lifeless.

Arche suddenly felt the water grow ice cold as wave of darkness descended on the anchor. Arche felt her heart sink, she knew that was too easy. Finally a dark giant appeared beside the anchor, she recognised the silhouette of the giant she had fought back in reality.

_I grow bored of this vessel, how kind of the 41 to send a replacement…_

The giant rumbled, as it grabbed the anchor and hefted it over it's shoulder. Arche didn't reply she merely raised her blades and prepared herself for a fight.

_The 41 think me defeated and enchained_

_But I am unbowed_

_Noble is this carnage…_

The the giant said as it gestured to the numerous bloated corpses around them

_For my imprisonment, the children will suffer_

_Suffer as I suffer_

_I wonder how many have been crushed by the oceans weight?_

_You are like a steed girl_

_Waiting to be whipped, broken and bridled_

_I will flay your soul from your body_

The giant laughed as it raised it's anchor and slammed it down into the ground. Immediately the water turned murky green, Arche found she could barely see her own hands. She spun around and around fearfully, awaiting an attack from an unknown direction.

Then Arche felt something bump against her back, she turned around and to her shock saw Kuurderika standing behind her clutching at her neck. She had her cheeks puffed out as if she was holding her breath, her face was steadily going redder. It was then Arche realised she was holding her breath under the water. At last Kuurderika's breath gave out and she inhaled a lung full of water as she started thrashing. In her panic Arche reached out and grasped her dear sister but she could only watch as her sibling drowned. As she watched her sister's face turned blue she felt an overwhelming sense of fear and despair.

"No it's not real…" Arche denied as she clutched at her head and backed away from the corpse

_Help me onesan…_

Arche froze as she heard those words, she looked around frantically but all she could see was murky water. Then she heard her sister scream, the piercing sound brought her to her knees as she clutched at her head to try and block it out. She felt the sound tear straight through her consciousness, it sounded like her sister was screaming into her ear. It was a horrible scream of abject agony, Arche knelt on the floor and collapsed into a fetal position as the screams echoed out.

Arche's mind went blank as she listened to the scream, her emotions in shock, her mental walls crumbling. Soon she found herself just wishing for it to end, at that moment she heard a voice.

_Yes, give in…_

_Breathe the brine_

_Sink…_

_Down here no one can hear you scream_

_Give in…_

Arche listened to the voice, the words were true, what's the point? As her mind spiraled into despair as her sister's scream pierced through the murky depths. As her will began to waver she found she starting to inhale some water as she breathed.

_Not here, not yet…_

Arche then heard the voice of the Gundyr's hollow in her mind, she felt a warmth blossom in her chest and she felt the screams get softer and warped.

_You bested me once_

_Not this time_

_This time I will have vengeance_

The boy's words echoed once more in her mind, this time she felt the warmth spread to her limbs. She heard the sound of bubbling and hissing, she opened her eyes and saw the water around her was boiling away.

Arche looked down at her hands and saw that her hands were cloaked in black flame, she looked around and saw she was now inside an air bubble. The water tried to rush back in but the flames kept them at bay.

_Good one boy_

_Girl how are you holding up?_

Arche never thought she would be happy to hear that voice. She looked within and found she could once again sense her inner hollows. Her sister's scream still rang in her mind but now she was lucid enough to realise it was all an illusion.

_That's it girl hold it together_

_We aren't dying today_

_You have people waiting for you, don't you?_

"Yes I do." Arche said to herself

She took another deep breath and cleared her mind, trying to banishing the memory of her sister's scream. Despite her best efforts, she still found herself chilled to the bone as she remembered that scream.

_Just make sure that scream never becomes real_

The boy said in her mind, those words gave Arche pause as she thought about their meaning. Yes that was right, if she died here who would take care of her sisters? She wouldn't trust her father to boil an egg and her mother has always been a weak willed woman, more comfortable with ignoring the problem rather than facing it. She could only count on herself to protect those who mattered to her.

_Let love be your shield_

Said the voice of the boy

_Let hate be your sword_

Echoed the voices of her dark family

_Give them nothing_

The boy said grimly

_Take from them everything_

Cackled the voices of her family

Arche opened her eyes, her eyes now had a hard glint in them. She reached deep into herself and drew on her power. She knew instinctively what to do, she thrust out her arms to the side and a wave of black fire exploded from her body and began vaporizing the water around her.

She looked around after the fire subsided and she looked around the familiar room, all the water was now gone. The bloated corpses were now just ashes being blown around the room by the convection current caused by Arche's flames. Cinders and embers glowed as they flew around the room. In front of her stood the giant, it gazed hatefully at her as she locked eyes with its hateful gaze.

"It's just you and me now hollow, no more tricks." Arche said coldly

"Hahaha you think you are strong enough to defeat me?" the giant chuckled

"I don't know, I'm stupid like that, I like to try the impossible." Arche said as she took a low stance. Her tentacles opened it's maws and released a loud hiss in challenge.

"Very well, regret your folly as you are crushed beneath the oceans weight." the giant rumbled as it brandished it's anchor.

It swung it's anchor towards her and a torrent of glowing green water flew towards her. Arche's tentacles formed into a large maw and from it's mouth spat a blast of black fire. The water and fire collided, the water boiled and hissed as the fire was snuffed out. Soon both sides gave out leaving behind a fog of steam that permeated the room.

The giant roared in rage and charged at Arche, seeing this Arche in turn changed her tentacles into a large cleaver and met its charge. Anchor met cleaver as they clashed mightily, black fire and cursed water were thrown about the room. The stone below their feet crumbled as the walls collapsed. Arche could feel this reality crumbling under the weight of their battle. Still heedless to this the pair continues to battle, slowly but surely Arche began to get the upper hand.

Arche could feel the rage of Gundyr's hollow, his fires burned hot with a fury unlike any other. Idly Arche sensed there was still a trace of Gundyr within his hollow, all his rage and sorrow translated into bursts of flame. Her own hollows laughed maniacally as this fight dragged on, Arche could feel their joy as the cleaver struck aside the anchor each time they clashed. Arche could relate to that joy, this power was intoxicating, she felt invincible.

Arche laughed as she parried another strike and reached forward with her palm. She fired out a jet of black flames that engulfed the giant. The giant roared in agony as the fire consumed it, the giant took a wild sweeping with its swing forcing Arche to back pedal.

The giant panted as the fires burnt out, Arche could see it's form was shimmering with bits of darkness leaking off it's body. It was very very vulnerable to her fire, it seems a few more good hits would do it. Again they clashed this time Arche could feel it's strikes was weaker, she just needed one good parry to open up a chance for her to finish this. Then the chance came, the anchor came down diagonally from the left, Arche ducked under the anchor and used her cleaver to slide it away knocking the giant off balance. She wreathed her cleaver in flames and delivered a devastating slash to the giants carving a large chunk out of its side. Arche followed up with a blast of fire that once again engulfed the giant. The giant stagger to its knees as the fire burned, she watched as the giant raised it's anchor. Sensing something was off, Arche leapt back but as the anchor came down a huge wave of water exploded from the anchor. Arche tried to block the water with her flames but she couldn't muster enough fire to negate the attack. The water washed over Arche and she screamed as the water burned like acid, she collapsed backwards as the water burnt away her skin. She felt the fire around her body reignite and pain faded, she rose to her feet and saw the giant kneeling on the ground struggling to rise.

_It's done, he used everything in that attack_

Arche heard the voices of her family say, Arche looked to the giant who was kneeling trying to make itself rise. Arche calmly walked over to the giant, it tried to weakly bat her away with it's right hand but her cleaver easily swatted the strike away.

"Your done hollow." Arche said as her lips curled into a sneer

The hollow didn't answer it merely tried one last time to desperately rise, Arche brought her cleaver down had hacked it's head off. The moment she did so the hollow disintegrated and the world started to shake as the floors and walls turned to wisps of darkness and started to flow into Arche. She felt her consciousness slip and she passed out.

When she opened her eyes again she found herself once again in her family home, she looked around and saw the familiar figures of her hollows. They were all huddled against one of the windows looking out.

"What's going on?" Arche asked

"See for yourself girl." her mother replied

She looked out and was surprised to see, they were now on a ship floating above an endless glowing sea. Frowning, she opened the door and walked out, the ship was ornate filled with gilded ornamentation. There was no crew to speak of except for a lone figure at the helm of the massive fireball above the house was gone, instead the ship was filled with lanterns that burned with a purple fire.

Arche walked up the steps and looked to the figure, it was a shadowy figure that wore a sailor's garb. The figure turned to look at her as she approached.

"Nice to see you captain." the figure said

"Captain?" Arche asked confused

"This is your ship, I sail it where you wish." the figure said

"Where are we going?" Arche asked as she looked around and saw nothing but endless ocean stretching from horizon to horizon.

"I was hoping you could answer that question." the figure said

"Right so let's put that aside for now… who are you?" Arche asked

"I have no name… but in my past life I think I was a sailor, I loved the seas and freedom." the figure said

"So what happened how did you get trapped in that plaza?" Arche asked

"I was betrayed, so I took vengeance. I broke the rules thus the dark god sealed me away." the figure said

"What did you do?" Arche asked

"I was left to die out there in that cursed city by the ones I called friend, I survived long enough to kill those who betrayed me. The lords did not like that so they took what I valued most, my freedom." the figure said as it looked away

"Will you betray me?" Arche asked

"No captain, there is no greater sin than betrayal." the figure replied

"Good, help me leave this place and perhaps you can smell the sea air once again." Arche said

"That is something I will gladly serve for, you have my allegiance captain. If this ship goes down I'll go down right alongside you." the figure said with a nod

_Excellent now let's see where the winds of fate takes us next…_

**Author's notes**

**Here's the next chapter hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, the story will be approaching it's final act soon. Hope you guys are liking the story so far!**

**See you guys in the next chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

Nico watched awestruck as black flames engulfed the giant, it was scary at first. Initially the green curse warred with the black flame, it almost snuffed out the flame at one point but was pushed back by a sudden surge of power.

"Looks like she won." Anri said

"Tough girl." Horace admitted

The giant started to dissipate into wisps of darkness that flooded into Arche. Nico heard cries from around him and he turned to see the red eyes in the surrounding buildings start to disappear as a flood of darkness swept out of the buildings and flew towards Arche. Arche floated in the air wreathed in black flames as the swarm of darkness descended on her. The trio watched as the fire swelled and burned before at last firing a pillar of flame into the sky. Then Arche's flame went out and she fell to the ground limp.

Nico ran up and caught her, when he first grabbed Arche he almost dropped her. Her skin was almost scalding hot. He looked down to see her panting and going clammy.

"I think she has a fever…" Anri said

"Lets get her back to the shrine, I think we've done enough for this hunt." Horace said

**Cathedral of Respite**

Maeve sat atop one of the spires of the structure, next to her were three others. One was Syrio Forrel the Plague Bearer he was leaning against the wall behind her looking out over the city. Sitting to Maeve's right was Lilith Winter the Forlorn Owl, handmaiden to Lady Friede. She had a weeping owl mask with a distended jaw allowing her to open her mouth with her mask on. She wore light silver armor accented with dark leather coverings. From her back sprouted a pair of black rotted wings that folded behind her Her armor covered her chest, shoulders and thighs, the rest was covered by a layer of black leather. The sleeves of her armor was made of a type of semi transparent black silk that flowed off her shoulders to her wrist. Standing on the ledge to Maeve's left was Mikael Eva the Argent Wolf, Watchdog of Lord Farron. He wore a set of dark spiked plate armor that covered most of his body. These three were all Successors of Ash they stood at the peak of mortal power, their abilities rivaled even those of the various guardians of the many realms.

"The girl seems to be doing well." Mikael said as he watched the black pillar of flame fire into the sky

"She's a fast learner." Syrio affirmed

"Quite the endorsement coming from you Forrel." Lilith said dryly

"I give credit where credit is due" Syrio replied calmly

"So who's going to train her next?" Mikael asked

"I'm thinking Sulyvahn then Lilith." Maeve replied

"So I assume I won't be needed?" Mikael asked

"Her fighting style would not work well with the style of the watchdogs." Syrio replied

"Fair enough." Mikael said with a shrug

"Where is Sulyvahn?" Lilith asked

"I believe he has matters to attend to for Lord Aldritch." Maeve replied

"I see, the Aldritch Faithful are ever busy it seems." Lilith said

The four stood atop the spire and waited, soon they saw the small group run into the church carrying the limp Arche. The four gave each other a look before vanishing into clouds of darkness.

**Arche's Mindscape**

Arche sat on the deck next to her hollows. With the large fireball gone they can now walk freely on the ship, Arche could see it was a welcome change for them. They milled about relaxed and speaking calmly, she looked to them and felt a little happy her soul had at least become a nicer place to live. The only problem was...

"Why can't I get out of here?" Arche muttered to herself

"No idea." her father said nonchalantly as he leaned against the side of the ship

"Getting bored of us already?" Kuurderika asked with a wicked smile

"No it's not that, it's just that we are kind of in the middle of a hollow infested plaza, what if we get eaten?" Arche replied

"Oh you're back in the shrine." Gundyr's hollow said

"Huh?" Arche asked

"Yea we forgot to tell you." her mother said

"So that's why all of you are so relaxed." Arche said with a sigh

"Everything's fine captain just enjoy the sea breeze in your hair." the sailor said

"You can practice how to fight here you know." her father said

"We will fight hollows like that again, you might want to get used to fighting in places like these." Kuurderika said

"Ok… I guess." Arche said as she rose and tried to conjure her blades

The blades appeared but she realised now instead of two she has four, what's more the blades now appeared to be wet and glowed with a sickly green glow. The blades and the tentacles attached to it used to have a smooth texture similar to snake scales. Now however it looked like it was made of hard flexible wood, there were also small purple glowing crystals growing on it.

Arche practiced and trained with her new abilities and found that she could now do some interesting new things with double the tentacles. She could now put up a shield and a cleaver for a more defensive orientated fighting style. She could also now use her tentacles to move while having access to two blades for a more mobile fighting strategy. Most of all was that she could now conjure a pair of black cannons with four tentacles each. The cannons would fire balls of black fire that exploded quite spectacularly. The draw back of the cannons was the large amount of recoil that the cannons produced. Arche nearly blew herself off the ship when she first fired it.

This went on for awhile as she played around with her abilities, with some guidance from her hollows she learned some interesting ways to use her powers. Arche then felt something change in her own little pocket dimension, she could suddenly sense that she was free to leave. She assumed her body had finally recovered enough for her to regain conciousness.

Arche felt her consciousness return, to put it bluntly she felt like shit. She groggily sat up while clutching her head with her right hand. She had a horrible headache and her entire body felt numb. She must have been running quite the fever. She tried to raise her left hand but found it was trapped by something warm. Arche looked down to see Nico sleeping by her bedside, he was fast asleep on top of her left hand.

Arche let out a small smile as she reached out and gave Nico a little shake. Nico muttered something in his sleep as he woke up, he looked up and once he saw Arche was awake he reached out and pulled her into a hug. Arche caught off guard by the sudden show of affection felt her face grow hot.

"Thank the 41 you're alright." Nico said

"It's… it's good to be back Nico…" Arche replied softly

Nico released Arche and held onto her shoulders.

"What happened, why were you gone for so long?" Nico asked

"Erm… how long was I gone?" Arche said her voice going up a pitch as she looked away

"Oh sorry… I erm…'' Nico stammered going red in the face as well

Arche looked back at Nico and saw the red flush on his face, the two locked eyes for a moment before looking away again.

"So… erm how long was I out?" Arche asked softly

"Well you were passed out for about two days." Nico replied hesitantly

"That's a while…" Arche replied

"So… why were you gone for so long?" Nico asked trying to dispel this horrible awkward atmosphere.

"Her body was trying to adjust to the large amount of abyss energies that she absorbed." said a voice

Arche and Nico turned to see a stern faced Maeve leaning against the open door. She wore her usual stoic expression but there were undertones of unhappiness in her eyes.

"Arche how are you feeling?" Maeve asked

"I'm fine, erm how long have you been standing there?" Arche asked red faced

"Long enough, may I have a word in private?" Maeve asked, although phrased like a question the tone betrayed this was not a request.

"Yea sure." Arche replied nonplussed as she turned her gaze back to Nico.

Nico sensing that was his que to leave, got up and walked out of the room. Arche followed him with her eyes till he vanished from sight. She looked back to Maeve and saw she was still looking at her. She watched as Maeve dipped her head slightly and shut her eyes for a moment. Then she got off the door and closed it behind her before walking over and sitting on the bed next to Arche.

"Ok, well here's the thing I saw what happened there. I am going to give you some advice, whatever that was stop it. It's not gonna end well here, spare yourself and him the suffering." Maeve stated calmly

"Maeve I don't…" Arche began getting ever more confused

"Just trust me on this one, please." Maeve said grimly

Arche looked to Maeve stunned, she has never heard her say that word before. The powerful did not need please, they do not request, they take.

"I… ok but may I know why?" Arche asked

"I can't tell you unfortunately, you'll have to just trust me on this one." Maeve said as she turned her gaze to Arche

"Ok, I trust you, but it was just an awkward moment nothing more." Arche said defensively

"Good, keep it that way. I pray for your sake what you say is true." Maeve replied

"Alright, alright I get it." Arche said

"Ok now onto the other thing…" Maeve said

**4 hours ago The Hall of Pillars**

"Are you sure of this prediction?" Touch Me asked

"The probability is high." Punito Moe replied

"So are we continuing with the plan?" Takemikazuchi asked

"Yes we need to slowly burn away Jaldabaoth's power, we need to make him believe he can fight our forces off." Punito Moe said

"So you wish to push for the girl to be rushed through the trial process." Ulbert remarked

"Yes, we will need her, she is part of the local indiginous population, she will be a valuable chess piece in the war to come." Punito Moe said

"What if she frenzies?" Tabula asked grimly

"Maeve will be with her, she is a match for the Lords, she will be more than enough for that girl." Momonga said

"So are we agreed?" Punito Moe asked as he looked around the room and saw no objections.

"Now we just have to see if she has the mettle to pass the trials, it's a tall order even with our help." Momonga said

"Well I suppose it's time for you to break the news to your little Lords of the Abyss." Ulbert said with a grin

"They won't like that." Chagama said

"They are prisoners, enchained in servitude to make amends for their folly. If it is displeasing to them all the better." Momonga said coldly

**2 Hours Later Outworld Citadel The Profaned Valley**

Maeve stood beside her father, she had her mask on due to the location of this meeting. This place is one of the areas with the highest known negative energy density. Beside her floated Midir and Jormungandr, they rarely got the chance to see their fellow lords so she decided to give them the opportunity.

"My lord you cannot be serious, this is a violation of the rules." Lord Farron growled

"I am serious, you will accommodate this turn of events to the best of your ability, are we clear Farron?" Momonga said coldly

"My lord why should this welp be given preferential treatment, is it perhaps because of her affiliation with your precious daughter?" Farron challenged

At those words the flames within Momonga's eyes flared in anger. Massive dark hands appeared and grasped the lords before slamming them hard into the ground in front of Momonga, cracking the nearly indestructible stone under the force.

"You forget yourself, dog." Momonga said dangerously as he reached out and grasped thin air. In his hand emerged black chains that were connected to Farron's body.

"My apologies my lord, forgive me." Farron said in a strained voice as the hands crushed him into the floor.

"You are chained as a sinner, you are sheep to bleat at my pleasure, a dog to watch my front door, you are nothing. Or have you forgotten? Should I remind you of why you are here?" Momonga said as he tugged on the chains eliciting a growl of pain from the Abyss Lord.

"Forgive me my lord, it will be as you say." Farron groaned out as the chains started to steam.

"Of course it will be, you exist because I permit it, existence exists because I permit it. Remember this well dog what is given can be taken away." Momonga said as he tugged the chains viciously causing Farron to roar in pain.

"Hmph a dog dares to question the master, you grow bold in my absence Farron." Momonga said coldly as he released the chains and the hands disappeared.

"I didn't mean to displease you my lord." Farron said shakily as he prostrated himself before Momonga along with the other lords.

"You think I didn't know that you were the one hindering my daughter and all her young proteges? This is my domain, my world, I know everything. I allowed it to happen because it was necessary to ensure non unworthy can ever leave this cage lest they destroy the innocent outside. Now however the situation is different so I am changing the rules. Am. I. Clear." Momonga said coldly

"Yes my lord." chorused the prostrated lords.

"Good. Now Maeve here will tell you which hollows she needs and you Farron will help her fetch them personally like the dog you are." Momonga said

"Yes of course." Farron replied not a hint of displeasure in his voice

At those words Momonga vanished in a cloud of darkness leaving Maeve alone with the lords. Farron raised his gaze and looked hatefully at Maeve. Maeve merely smirked under her mask, although the smile could not be seen the lords could sense it.

"So ready to get started?" Maeve said cheerfully

Farron merely growled in response before rising and glaring at Maeve.

"I'll take that as a yes." Maeve said with a smile

**Arche's Room**

"So there is a new arrangement, there won't be another hunt. Instead the hollows will be brought to you and you will devour them. This is done in the interests of time, to put it bluntly there is a war coming to your home world and the powers above will require your abilities to preserve your home." Maeve said

"What? Is that why Eden has come to the continent?" Arche asked

"Yes, more will be explained once you are out of here, just know this it will be a war unlike any other that has ever occured on your world. As far as your world is concerned it will be a war to end all wars." Maeve said grimly

"So I just have to get out of here?" Arche asked

"Yes, sadly you still have to go through the process, those touched by the abyss have a chance to frenzy when they leave this place. The host must be stronger than the hollows within in order for them to control their powers. " Maeve replied

"Well that makes it simple then." Arche said

"Yes I suppose it does." Maeve said

"So whats next, do I just go and devour one now?" Arche asked

"No for now just rest up tomorrow you will be meeting another trainer. He is a strange one…" Maeve said with a shake of her head

"Ok well I suppose I'll see you around Maeve." Arche said

"Yea I'll drop by again." Maeve said as she stood up

Arche watched as Maeve walked to the door and opened it. Right before she stepped through she turned and looked Arche in the eyes.

"Remember what I said about that boy, I am serious, don't do it." Maeve said sternly

"Yes of course." Arche replied hesitantly

Maeve merely nodded as she exited the room, leaving Arche to wonder why she was so adamant about it. Arche mulled it over in her head but could find no conclusion, resigning herself to her own ignorance she layed back down on her bed and tried to get whatever rest she could. She had a feeling the coming days would be very hectic.

**The Next Day**

Arche sat at the dining table with the other three, they were eating in silence as was their usual routine. Talking made the taste much worse since it moved the weed around in their mouth. They were halfway through the meal when Arche spotted Maeve approaching with a small box under her arm. She stopped at the table and placed the box on the table.

"What's that?" Arche asked dubiously her voice strained due to the foul tasting weed

"A gift from my father. He rarely does things like these, so I assume there must be a reason." Maeve replied with a confused frown

"So what is it?" Arche asked

"See for yourself." Maeve said as she opened the box and revealed set of ten scones.

The first thing they noticed was the rich buttery smell than escaped from the box, to Arche it smelt like a piece of heaven.

"This is for us?" Arche asked

"Yes, I am told it was made personally by Amanomahitotsu sama, it's a special pastry that will improve your rate of absorption for abyss essence." Maeve explained

"Then should we just leave it all for Arche?" Nico asked

"What you do with it is up to you, but I recommend Arche eat at least six of them. The buffs are quite potent and they taste quite good." Maeve said with a shrug

"How long do they last?" Arche asked

"Quite awhile, about half a year, more than enough for the rest of your training, it was supposed to come in a potion form but Bukubuku Chagama sama said you four might need a treat having been here for so long." Maeve replied

"That's very kind of her." Arche said with a smile

"Oh yes, Bukubuku Chagama sama gave me this a well." Maeve said as she reached into a pocket dimension and pulled out a flask. She put the flask on the table and opened revealing a fragrant chocolate aroma.

"This is a gift from Bukubuku Chagama sama, it's hot chocolate, her words were as I quote, it tastes like home. Not very sure what she meant by that but maybe you all can find out." Maeve said calmly

"Thank you for bringing us all of this." Arche said as she stood up and pulled Maeve into a hug.

Maeve stood there stiffly as Arche hugged her, she awkward raised her arms but stopped midway. After the pause she reached up higher and was about to return thee embrace before deciding against it and extracting herself from the hug.

"Well it's good to see you like the gift, I'll be back at some point." Maeve said with a wave as she abruptly left the table.

"She's not very good with affection is she?" Nico deadpanned

Arche didn't reply she merely looked to Maeve's retreating back. She looked back at the scones on the table and wondered what was going on in that girls head. It was like she was afraid of affection, she does good by others but hates gratitude. A truly strange combination…

Without much other choice Arche sighed and sat down at the table. She reached in and grabbed one of the scones before biting into it. Immediately she tasted the warm buttery pastry with vanilla and white chocolate sweetness flow over her palette. It tasted like a slice of heaven to her, she wasn't sure if it was really as good as she thought it was

Once the group had finished their meal they were summoned to the sparring room once again. This time a different figure stood before them, the figure had a strange mask, the mask was a mass of cracks with no shape or reason to its shape. The mask covered it's entire head in a cylindrical shape and at the top there was patterns reminiscent of tree branches that extended from the crown. It wore a set of long flowing robes. In each hand it clutched a pair of short swords, one glowed with a purple magic light, the other was alight with a bright orange flame. The blades were held gently at his side as the figure waited motionless in the centre of the room.

Arche approached cautiously remembering all too well the last time she let her guard down around one of these abyss users. She held her staff up and conjured her black scythe as her blades appeared around her in a defensive formation.

"There is no need for that child." the figure said

"Who are you?" Arche asked now lowering her guard

"I am Sulyvahn the Forgotten Son first among Aldrich's Faithful." the figure said its voice sounding peaceful and ancient. It strangely brought a sense of peace to those who listened to it.

"Ok so are you replacing Forrel?" Arche asked cautiously

"Yes, he has determined that you have learnt all you can from him so I will be taking over for your magical education." Sulyvahn said

"Magical education?" Nico asked

"Not for you, from here on out the training will be carried out separately. Forrel will continue to train others while you girl will be with me." Sulyvahn said

"So what now?" Arche asked

"First will the other three follow me." said a familiar voice from the door. The group turned to see Forrel standing at the door, he was leaning against the door frame as he motioned for the rest to join him.

"Go on." Arche said to the other three

Arche knew the others would not be able to cast any specialised spells, they clearly lacked the power to do so. She knew if they were going to get out of here she would need to be as strong as possible, she was starting to wonder why did they even allow the other three to join her? She wasn't complaining but still why? They were so much weaker than her now, she could easily take them all down with barely any effort and she still has two more hollows to devour. Arche watched as the other three leave the room before she turned and looked back at the Sulyvahn.

"Very good now come sit down." Sulyvahn said as he sat down onto the floor.

Arche obeyed as she sat down opposite Sulyvahn.

"Now girl, I believe you can cast spells, would you please show me." Sulyvahn said calmly

Arche nodded as she held out her hand and cast a [Burn Lance] in her palm. A fire lance appeared in her hand, it burned with a furious intensity. The colour was now different instead of the usual orange color, the flame now burned in a white glow.

"Hmm spell strength is acceptable but spell type is weak." Sulyvahn said as he cupped his chin

"I learned these spells when I was much weaker." Arche replied

"Yes I can see that, you were a spell caster before you arrived here?" Sulyvahn asked

"Yes I was a caster of the fourth tier." Arche replied

"Well I will get this out of the way first, those who wield the powers of the abyss are without exception primarily melee combatants. Some may favour heavier spell use as compared to others but fundamentally our spells are to augment our melee capabilities." Sulyvahn said

"So what kind of spells would be beneficial?" Arche asked

"We will start with this buff called [Mantle of Chaos]" Sulyvahn said as he reached into a pocket dimension and handed Arche a scroll.

Arche unfurled it and looked to the contents, she was able to comprehend it but it was the most complex spell she had ever seen. This was well beyond the 5th tier of magic, the level of complexity was on another level.

"This will take too long to learn." Arche said

"Hmm what do you mean?" Sulyvahn asked perplexed

"I mean it will take awhile for me to learn how to cast it." Arche replied

"It appears you are not aware then, this is a special scroll, known as a tutorial scroll. It is infused with the knowledge on how to cast it, simply pour your mana into the scroll." Sulyvahn explained as he gestured to the scroll

Arche did as she was told and poured her mana into the scroll immediately she felt a connection form in her mind. She saw the runes on the scroll glow and the scroll burned away, Arche felt a flood of knowledge surge into her mind. She was overwhelmed as the concepts and knowledge overloaded her psyche. Then as quickly as it appeared it stopped, Arche blinked the stars out of her eyes and found she knew exactly how to cast the spell. Abit disbelieving on how easy it was, she tried to cast it.

[Mantle of Chaos] Arche intoned and she saw her body was wreathed in a dark purple radiance. She felt her strength rise dramatically and her mana pool seemed more volatile and violent.

"[Mantle of Chaos] one of the most popular spells among the abyss users, originated from ancient undead liches, it boosts physical abilities, defenses, resistances and makes spells infused with negative energy. It is part of the group of spells known as dark sorceries, which is the go to repertoire of spells an abyss user will look to in combat." Sulyvahn explained

"Dark sorceries… is it something like necromancy?" Arche asked

"Similar but not the same, necromancy is the reanimation of a reagent using negative energy. Dark sorceries use negative energy to infuse and empower the user, the condition for success and effectiveness is the user must have an affinity to negative energy. This normally only applies to undead but we are an exception to the rule." Sulyvahn explained

"I see." Arche said

"Now let's try something else." Sulyvahn said as he handed her another scroll.

Arche opened up the scroll and she read the title, as she looked across the runes laid out in swirling patterns she felt her blood go cold. This was truly dark magics, evil in its construction and profane in it's execution. [Burrowing Agony] the title read, Arche almost felt afraid to use the scroll, what dark secrets will invade her mind if she should choose to learn this spell.

"This is a hybrid spell, it is a mixture of a curse and entomancy. The spell is coalesced by negative energies into its current form, a very potent spell if used correctly." Sulyvahn said

"This spell seems evil." Arche said slowly

"It is, it's a devouring hex type curse, the darkest of curse types. Combined with entomancy it brings a new meaning for an invading curse. A truly masterful spell created by Lord Aldritch himself." Sulyvahn said proudly

Arche gave him a fearful glance, she had been warned by her master in the past about learning dark magics. Due to the nature of spell casting in order to master dark powers you must let the darkness in and this will twist one's soul beyond repair. However, she also knew she was now a vessel for the darkest of creatures so abit more darkness wasn't going to hurt. With those thoughts in mind Arche absorbed the knowledge in the scroll.

Arche immediately recoiled as the foul knowledge flooded in, instinctively her mask appeared so obscene was the knowledge her psyche thought it was an attack.

_Hahaha now this is some interesting stuff…_

Arche heard her hollows say, once she came back to her senses she banished her mask and looked up at Sulyvahn. She could swear she could feel that bastard smiling behind that cracked mask.

"Why don't we give it a try?" Sulyvahn said as he rose

Arche got up hesitantly still having mixed feelings about this knowledge. She watched as Sulyvahn jingled a small silver bell and dark portal appeared. From the portal emerged a hollow bound by black chains. It looked weak, just like one of the random ones found roaming the ringed city.

"Go on try it." Sulyvahn said

Arche had her second thoughts but she was already in this situation there wasn't much sense in backing out now. She was already an accomplice to this dark sorceries so if she was going to be damned it was probably already too late.

[Burrowing Agony] Arche intoned and watched as the flesh on her right hand bubbled and burst. Holes appeared in her flesh and insects crawled out of her hand, jaws gnashing seeking flesh. Arche pointed her hand at the hollow and watched as the insects flooded out of her arm and descended on the hollow. The insects burrowed into the hollow and tore it apart from the inside out. Soon the hollow went limp as those accursed insects did their work.

Arche looked back to her hand and saw that the flesh had healed thanks to her regeneration. This must truly be a unique spell, it wouldn't work on undead because this spell used the living flesh of the caster to help fuel the spell. The spell would kill most living casters as the cast would shred the flesh from their arm. This meant this spell was tailored to be used by abyss users, this was a spell that took advantage of their unique physiology.

"Very good girl, now let's move onto something more esoteric… that it is if you feel you're up for it." Sulyvahn said as he pressed his fingertips together

"Tell me." Arche said coldly

"That's what I like to hear." Sulyvahn said jovially

"But first give me some of your blood." Sulyvahn said as he held out his hand

Arche furrowed her brows and glared at him. That request certainly came out of nowhere... Arche trusted this man as far as she could throw him and she wasn't a very good at throwing anything. With a sigh, she held out her hand and used one of her blades to cut her palm open. She let the blood drip onto his hand and looked on as magic circles appeared.

"Most interesting, you have quite the unique combination of abilities. I look forward to seeing your true form." Sulyvahn said

"True form?" Arche asked

"Ah yes I suppose no one has told you yet… I assume you have multiple different entities living within you yes?" Sulyvahn asked. Arche nodded as she continued to gaze intently at Sulyvahn.

"Well you see once you have passed the trials your powers will mature, your hollows will combine and fuse with your soul. Once this happens your abilities will morph and change into its final state, after that there would usually be only one entity remaining within you. There are exceptions of course but let's not look at that for now." Sulyvahn explained

"So what is the point of me giving you my blood?" Arche asked

"Ah well that is the million dollar question isn't it? You see you have a few interesting abilities at your disposal. You have [Black Fyre] [Drowned Curse] [Tendrils of Ruination], all of which are powerful abilities you should be able to create some interesting spells with those." Sulyvahn said

"Create spells?" Arche asked

"Yes you must create your own custom spells to take advantage of your abilities. I will teach you how." Sulyvahn said

The next few days were filled with lectures and experimentation. The lessons were long and esoteric but Arche strangely found them enjoyable. She always had a liking towards magic and it was actually her childhood dream to create her own than once her new spell blew up in her face, if she was still fully human she would long be dead. Eventually she came up with a new spell but she needed a name for it…

_Mfecane…_

Her hollow said in her mind. Perplexed Arche asked what it meant and in response it turned out that it means the crushing. Appropriate, very appropriate for what the spell does. She mentally binded the word to the spell and finalised the spell the structure in her mind. The spell was crude merely an amalgamation of her inherent traits into a serviceable spell. It turns out all those hours struggling to stay awake during Spellcraft lectures back in the academy was worth it. The fundamentals she learned were invaluable in this endeavour and yes the best the empire could offer in their greatest academy was the fundamentals. In these past few days Arche had learned more than she had in an entire year in the academy.

When she was studying back in Arwintar, the very idea of creating a spell was something that only the true masters of the craft could accomplish. There were stories everywhere of spells going wrong turning the casters in chickens or blowing up an entire section of the school. Some of the worse ones were necromancy or curse magic going wrong, cities have been wiped out when foolhardy spell casters sought to tamper with powers beyond their understanding. The dangers were obvious which was why she was never thought the specifics on how to create spells, the concepts were simple but the execution was a completely different animal. Too much power, the structure overloads and it explodes. Too little power and the structure will collapse in on itself and it explodes. Your structure formation is bad? Well your spell just cost too much mana to form and you dried out halfway through the cast and guess what? It exploded…

Arche stood there apprehensively as she raised her hand, the spell was far from perfect she knew. It seemed to her the efficiency was poor and the cast time seemed too long. She would need some time to iron out the kinks.

[Mfecane] Arche intoned, she felt her mana drain away in torrents as the spell formed. A few metres in front of her a glowing green circle appeared in front of her. The circle was wide about 5 metres in diameter, She watched as teeth appeared at the edges of the circle and a pair of semi circle shaped jaws closed around the circle from both sides clamping down like a bear trap. The jaws were made of rotted wood and the teeth were black just like her blades. The teeth were also wreathed in black fire and the jaws gnashed furiously, chomping down mercilessly. If something living was inside those jaws it would find itself crushed into little bits.

"Not bad child. It could use some work but definitely a step in the right direction." Sulyvahn said as he nodded approvingly.

"Thank you." Arche said softly

"Now for today's homework, go back and improve the spell. Start by improving it's mana efficiency." Sulyvahn said encouragingly

Arche nodded mutely before standing up and leaving. Somehow this strange man always made her feel uneasy. He seemed friendly enough but somehow it all seemed fake, like it was an act to lure in unsuspecting prey. Sighing she returned back to the main hall and found the other three seated at their usual corner of the hall.

"How was training?" Arche asked as she took a seat next to Nico.

"Same as usual, would it kill Forrel to not hit so hard?" Nico said as he tried to wrap up a nasty gash on his arm.

"Here let me." Arche said as she took the cloth and chilled it with her magic before wrapping it around the wound.

"Thanks." Nico said gratefully

"So what about you Arche? What great sorceries did you manifest today?" Nico asked dramatically. As he said this he raised his arms in a mock spell cast but realised that was a mistake as a shot of pain travelled up his wounded arm.

"That's what you get." Arche said with a laugh as she watched his face go green from the pain.

"Look at you laughing at my misery." Nico said ruefully

"Hahaha alright I'm sorry." Arche said as she wiped a tear from her eye

"Still hurts…" Nico grumbled

"Are you having a tantrum?" Arche asked with a chuckle

"No…" Nico pouted

"Ok ok I'm sorry." Arche said trying to suppress a smile

"I'll forgive you if you do me a favour." Nico said

"Favour?" Arche asked curious

"Close your eyes." Nico said

Arche confused but trusting Nico closed her eyes without a second thought. She was half expecting to get a face full of some gunk Nico probably found in some rancid corner of the shrine. Instead she felt something soft and warm press against her cheek for just a moment. Arche's eyes shot open just in time to see Nico pulling his head back.

"Did you just…" Arche asked as she felt her face growing hot

"Did you like it?" Nico asked awkwardly

"I… I don't know… it's a bit sudden don't you think?" Arche blustered

"So it's not a no." Nico said

"What? Nico it's not about…" Arche began

"No no no you didn't say you didn't like it, so I see this as an absolute win!" Nico said as he held his arms out dramatically

Arche could only look at him slack jawed and embarrassed out of her mind as he let out a loud hearty laugh.

**Authors Notes:**

**Hey guys sorry for the really long delay, been struggling with a lung infection this past week. Constant coughing and horrible muscle aches don't make a very good physical state for writing. Will hopefully get better soon. **


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